OYO Rooms raises 413 crores from SoftBank

Aiming to further expand its new initiative called ‘Flagship’, budget hotels brand OYO Rooms has raised 413 crores through a proposed rights issue last month from Japanese internet and telecom firm SoftBank, the documents filed with the Registrar of Companies revealed.

The other investors in this round included Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, Greenoaks Capital and DSG Consumer Partners. SoftBank declined to comment on the development while OYO Rooms’ spokesperson could not be reached.

Founded by 21-year-old Ritesh Agarwal, OYO Rooms had raised $100 million in the previous round of funding in August 2015 led by SoftBank.

The company was then valued at $400 million post-money while the new round of the company has been raised at $400 million pre-money. As per the new round of funding, the post-money valuation of the Gurgaon-based startup is at Rs 3,129 crore or about $460 million.

In its ‘Flagship’ category, it controls 100% of the inventory of the hotel to provide a more premium experience to customers.

Apart from the funding, OYO Rooms has also bought back shares worth Rs 60 crore from its early angel investors led by VentureNursery. According to ET, the Mumbai-based accelerator had invested about Rs 25 lakh in the company in 2012 and has made about 250 times returns from its early bet.

Reports emerged in April that Mumbai-based Venture-Nursery, which was the first investor in OYO Rooms, was looking for an exit and that differences had emerged due to it.