OYO Rooms, the Indian version of San Francisco-based vacation rental portal Airbnb, has received a fresh round of $22 million (₹138 crore approximately). The funding round has been led by US-based GreenOaks Capital along with the existing investors. This is GreenOaks’ second investment in the growing Internet-based start-ups after Flipkart.com. According to sources close to the development, the agreement was signed recently and with the fresh round, the company is being valued at $72 million (₹430 crore).
A mail sent to Ritesh Agarwal on the recent development remained unanswered. OYO Rooms, earlier known as Oravel.com, was started in 2011 by a then 17-year-old school dropout Ritesh Agarwal. Born and raised in a small town in Odisha’s Rayagada district, Agarwal started Oravel.com as marketplace for boutique guest homes, inns, bed and breakfasts, serviced apartments, holiday rental and palaces, with more than 3,000 listings.
OYO Rooms’ parent company Delhi-based Oravel Stays Pvt Ltd had in October last raised about ₹40-50 crore from Sequoia Capital, which also has invested in Airbnb. The other investors in the company are DSG Consumer Partners and Lightspeed Venture Partners along with a few angel investors.
According to sources, the funds would be used to expand the services of OYO Rooms to cities beyond Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Noida and Bengaluru. The company also plans to start a budget hotel chain under the brand OYO. Currently, it runs as a marketplace or a chain of branded budget rooms, with standardisation of experience, and the rooms or hotels are not owned by the company.
New options With growing number of young discerning travellers, the hospitality market is witnessing newer models of budget and bed-and-breakfast hotels.
Chennai-based Stayzilla is another such start-up that helps connects travellers with affordable accommodation in several towns and even villages in India.
Stayzilla, owned by Inasra Technologies Pvt Ltd, has raised $20 million from Nexus Venture Partners and Matrix Partners.