What Made Oyo India's Most Enterprising Startup?

No one would have ever thought that a hotel aggregator business started by a dropout could turn out to be such a success, not just in India but globally. A lot has been spoken and printed in Business News about Oyo rooms in the past few years, be it the dynamic extension, procuring, funding and more. However, the prior year has been a historic landmark for Ritesh Agarwal’s business empire.

The voyage that began from one grimy hotel has now achieved its 100th townhouse resort and more so, has ideas to crossover the assisted-living centers or retirement houses, for senior civilians in the future. According to the reports, the accommodation giant is planning to venture into space by its real estate enterprise arm named as Oyo Living.

Let’s look at some of the factors that saved Ritesh Agarwal a huge spot in the list of Successful Entrepreneurs Stories -

1.    Extending Global Footprint

The discussion around Oyo’s global extension had just started when Japanese investor SoftBank financed around $1 billion in its cooperation, boosting its plan to go global. According to business news, the Indian unicorn amassed $800 million from SoftBank and $200 million from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia and Greenoaks Capital. 

Within six to seven years, the Gurgaon located lodge chain had over 815,000 rooms in around 10 countries - India, Japan, Nepal, the United Kingdom, the Philippines, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and where the expansion started, China.

2.    Beyond Hospitality

After a frolic of international expansions, Oyo invested in other forms of habilitation through various ventures. The accommodation company ventured into co-living rental sites with OYO Living in October 2018. Targeted to gen X and young experts, the venture started with hosting properties in Noida, Gurgaon, Bangalore, and Pune.

3.    Entry in Co-living:

After succeeding in co-living, co-working was the subsequent spot for this Indian firm that took over Gurugram-based startup Innov8 in an all-cash venture worth around $31.84 million. It turned out to be major Business News in the commerce industry. OYO also renewed the presence of intermediate to ration category co-working startups, Workflow and PowerStation.

Oyo’s achievement is sole to be attributed to the man who raised this firm from scratch – Ritesh Agarwal without whom the list of Successful Entrepreneurs Stories is incomplete