NEW DELHI: OYO Hotels & Homes will raise $1.5 billion as part of its Series F round of funding. In the latest round, hospitality firm’s founder C will infuse around $700 million.
Agarwal will invest through a Cayman Islands-domiciled entity, RA Hospitality Holdings’, with $800 million being supplemented by other existing investors like SoftBank’s Vision Fund, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sequoia India.
Earlier this year, RA Hospitality Holdings’ received CCI approval to invest $2 billion in OYO. With the latest round of funding, OYO that was founded in 2013, will be valued at around $10 billion.
According to the company, a significant part of the funds will be used to boost OYO’s presence in fastest-growing markets such as the US, and strengthening the company’s position in the vacation rentals business in Europe.
OYO entered the US market earlier this year and now has 7,500 rooms in 60 cities. Globally, it claims to cover 1.2 million rooms in over 80 countries.
“The growth across verticals in India and globally has been phenomenal and we truly believe that we will be able to build a truly global brand out of India, while ensuring that the business is run efficiently and with a clear path to profitability.
"Our immediate goal, however, is to make forward-looking investments so that we can achieve our mission, while delivering on our fiduciary responsibility to our investors by building a sustainable business,” said Agarwal, founder and CEO (Global), OYO Hotels & Homes.
Earlier, the 25-year-old founder decided to increase his stake from about 10 per cent to 30 per cent in the firm by spending $2 billion.