The backing for India-based OYO Rooms continues, with the branded hotel booking site luring in a further $100 million in funding.
The company has yet to officially confirm the deal, but it is understood from sources that a term-sheet has been signed and a number of high-profile investors are involved.
Backing the company in this latest round are Sequoia Capital and SoftBank.
An “external sovereign fund” is also said to be involved.
Both financial houses are returning for more OYO action after being involved in the company’s earlier capital-raising efforts (this is the fifth such agreement to date).
The company first came to notice on the global stage in March 2015 when its 21-year-old founder, Ritesh Agawal, wooed San Francisco-based Greenoaks Capital to secure $25 million.
Sequoia was also involved, following an initial $600,000 it put into the company in May 2014.
Fast forward to August last year and the company secured a massive $100 million, led by SoftBank and again featuring Sequoia.
Oyo Rooms aggregates budget hotels and guesthouses, making inventory discoverable and bookable online. Its branding provides a franchise-like consistency of product.
The company bought out rival ZO Rooms for an undisclosed price in February 2016.
But the company has not had everything its own way, having irked Indian travel powerhouse MakeMyTrip in November last year and leading the online travel agency to de-list the entire OYO portfolio of properties.
Whilst some considered the move to be a defensive one as it looked to consider launching its own budget accommodation service, known as Value Plus, MakeMyTrip argued that it could not maintain any consistency of quality.
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