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<ul><li><keyword id="1670338" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ritesh-Agarwal">Ritesh Agarwal</keyword>, founder and CEO of OYO, has had quite a journey over the years. </li><li>He had founded the company when he wasn’t even 20. </li><li>Today, OYO is racing with speed to be one of the world’s biggest hotel chains.</li></ul>While he has not even attained 25 years of age, Ritesh Agarwal, the CEO of OYO has seen it all – popularity, business success and financial prosperity. He has made something unique at a time when others had not even thought of it – a hotel booking software that would assure room for anyone at their favorite hotel at competitive prices. Ritesh says, his success was not an easy one. Here are some interesting facts about Ritesh Agarwal that will inspire any reader. Ritesh Agarwal was not confident about his studies Ritesh doubted his own abilities to do well in college or working for someone. Hence he jumped into something like building OYO. He says, “I knew if I had gone to college, I would not have done well. And then my family would hate me. So I felt if my family was to hate me anyway, I would rather do what I feel very excited about!” He failed six times before succeeding Ritesh had once commented that he failed six times before he succeeded in his OYO venture. Ritesh says, “If you have not failed, you have not hardened yourself.” Hails from a simple family Ritesh hails from a family running a small local shop in Southern Orissa. If he had not chosen to take a different course for his life, he would have ended up overseeing the shop. Ritesh wanted to do something exciting. Every entrepreneur has a story behind him. He started working with SMEs and tried to bring them sales. It was only in his second venture, he started with making success that too slowly. Initially the VCs thought he was talking about real estate business Ritesh’s task of convincing the VCs to fund his venture was not an easy one. When he attempted to find a solution to the hotel booking process, something like OYO had not been built earlier. The investors asked if there was anything similar to what he was trying to build. While they all interpreted his venture as a real estate business, only two months later they all started when competition started building up. OYO had to climb a steep uphill The forward march of OYO into success was not easy as it sounds. Managing the component of predictability was a mammoth task for them. This challenge still continues. After they had standardized 45,000 rooms spread across 160 cities, managing the same set of facilities again and again, dealing with the issues that crop up, maintaining the 4* ratings on TripAdvisor and satisfying the customers on maximum deals were a tough job which they could manage efficiently with a lot of efforts. OYO has a favorable business scene in the international market Ritesh says OYO does not have an international competitor who will breathe down its way. So when it comes to discounting and cash burning, OYO possibly has the least amount of burning and so faces a favorable economics on its journey forward. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/unknown-facts-about-flipkart-founder-sachin-bansal/articleshow/70494717.cms">Flipkart founder Sachin Bansal</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/paytm-founder-vijay-shekhar-sharma-unknown-facts/articleshow/69941150.cms">Paytm Founder Vijay Shakhar Sharma</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/10-interesting-facts-about-gautam-adani-that-you-should-know/articleshow/69900616.cms">Interesting facts about Gautam Adani</a>

Ritesh Agarwal: Interesting facts about oyo founder ritesh agarwal

<ul><li>The Indian hospitality unicorn <keyword id="2808667" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="OYO">OYO</keyword>’s founder <keyword id="1670338" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ritesh-Agarwal">Ritesh Agarwal</keyword> wants to buy back shares worth $1.5 billion, according to reports. </li><li>Agarwal holds 9.43% in the hospitality startup, while SoftBank, the Japanese investment firm, controls 45.69% of the company. </li><li>According to OYO’s clauses, SoftBank cannot take up more than 49.99% in the company without approval from Agarwal and his early investors. </li></ul>In an unprecedented move in the Indian startup ecosystem, OYO founder Ritesh Agarwal is looking to buy back shares worth $1.5 billion according to an <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/oyo-founder-in-talks-to-buy-back-1-5-billion-shares/articleshow/70121644.cms">ET report.</a> The report cited sources to say that the founder is looking buy shares from its early investors like Sequoia and Lightspeed Venture Partners, to have greater control of his company. In an email response, an OYO spokesperson said, “As a company policy, we don’t comment on speculations. We have no further comments.” Agarwal reportedly wants to raise his stake in the firm to over 30%. Currently, Agarwal holds 9.43% in the hospitality startup, while SoftBank, the Japanese investment firm, controls 45.69% of the company. The report further says that the founder is looking to raise $2 billion of secured debt through investors in India, Japan and Europe. Meanwhile, early investor Lightspeed has 13.4% stake, while Sequoia Capital has 10.24%. According to information sourced by paper.vc, Article 21.6 of Oyo’s Articles of Association prohibit Softbank from, directly or indirectly, acquiring more than 49.99% of the fully diluted share capital of the company, without the consent of Ritesh Aggarwal, Greenoaks, Lightspeed and Sequoia Capital. SoftBank has been an investor in OYO since a long time now. It was Softbank's investment that led OYO into the Indian unicorn club with a $5 billion valuation in September 2018, a huge jump from the $900 million valuation it had until then. Reports say that OYO is once again looking at raising funds through debt and primary, secondary transactions, which could take its valuation to over $10 billion. The Indian hospitality unicorn has been spreading its business fast across the world. It recently became China’s largest hotel chain. OYO said that it will invest $300 million to expand its footprint in the United States – into cities like New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. It already has 50 hotels across 15 states in the US. It recently launched services in Vietnam. The six-year-old startup has much higher ambitions in sight – to become the world’s largest hotel chain, as conveyed by its CEO Aditya Ghosh earlier this <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/former-indigo-chief-is-aiming-to-make-the-6-year-old-oyo-the-worlds-largest-hotel-chain/articleshow/67536612.cms">year</a>.

The founder of OYO, the Indian unicorn, is so confident that he will buy back $1.5 billion shares

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">OyoOyo founder Ritesh Agarwal.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Indian hotel marketplace Oyo has expanded into the UK. It aims to partner with budget British hotels to standardising their decor and service.</li><li>Oyo offers a marketplace of mostly budget hotel rooms via its app, hoping to create a level of standardisation of service and decor at low-cost hotels.</li><li>The company was founded by 24-year-old Indian entrepreneur Ritesh Agarwal, and has raised $450 million to date from investors such as SoftBank's Vision Fund, Lightspeed, and Sequoia.</li></ul>Indian startup Oyo has launched in the UK to try and raise the standards of budget hotels across the country.The UK is Oyo's first market outside of Asia, where it has racked up a network of more than 200,000 rooms across India, Malaysia, China, and Nepal.The startup has appointed Coco di Mama cofounder, Jeremy Warner, to run its British business, and plans to invest £40 million ($53 million) in the UK.The startup will become available in 10 cities over the next 18 months, and already has several hotels in its launch city of London.Oyo is like a mix of Airbnb and WeWork. The premise in the UK is that Oyo takes unloved budget hotels, brings them into its franchise under the Oyo brand, and then renovates them to a particular standard.The startup promises to take the management load off independent hotel owners, and to boost their bookings. It takes a cut from room bookings, and benefits from adding to its huge network of rooms around the world.The upside for hotel customers is that they can travel to a particular city and expect a consistent type of decor and service from an Oyo hotel.The startup already has a physical presence in London and is targeting a mix of locations in the city. It has one "townhouse" in Paddington and another in Ilford, an unglamorous location in east London.Customers can book rooms through the Oyo app, or through third-party aggregators like Booking.com.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">OyoAn Oyo Townhouse in Paddington.</div></div></div>Oyo has generated major hype in its home market, not least because of its youthful founder, 24-year-old Ritesh Agarwal, who bases himself Gurgaon, on the outskirts of Delhi, India.While at university, Agarwal won $100,000 from the Thiel Fellowship, a grant for budding entrepreneurs that requires them to drop out of college. He has raised $450 million to date from top-tier backers including Sequoia, Lightspeed, Greenoak, and SoftBank's Vision Fund.The company is <a href="https://www.livemint.com/Companies/8XRYZKfISaOL0KDql7SVxJ/Oyo-in-talks-to-raise-up-to-800-million-in-fresh-funding.html">rumoured by the Indian media</a> to be in the process of raising a further $800 million to $1 billion, at a valuation of $4 billion, although Agarwal was tight-lipped about this in a call with Business Insider."We continually get inbounds," he said. "There is no specific view on capital raising right now."He added that Oyo wasn't a particularly capital-intensive business and had a "healthy balance sheet," though he didn't provide further financial detail.Agarwal bills Oyo as a way to rejuvenate struggling local hotels and, by extension, their neighbourhoods. The messaging <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/success-story-of-wework-2017-9/#wework-founders-adam-neumann-and-miguel-mckelvey-met-where-else-at-the-office-1">has echoes of WeWork founder Adam Neumann</a>, another SoftBank entrepreneur who regularly draws on the importance of "community."Agarwal said: "If you think about London, every [area] had its own neighbourhood hotel, a butcher's... these are all slowly disappearing in the face of big businesses showing up. Oyo's goal is to try and keep the originality of the neighbourhood hotel while upgrading them with great quality design and customer service."At the same time," he added. "[Hotel] owners see significantly more return when franchised or leased by us. That's the principle we've taken." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-iphone-xs-max-xr-event-wrap-up-2018-9">Apple's entire iPhone XS event in 8 minutes</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

This SoftBank-funded startup was founded by a 24-year-old to glam up budget hotels, and it's just launched in the UK

<ul><li>The reported acquisition of <keyword id="6434843" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="freshmenu">Freshmenu</keyword> could happen for $60 million. </li><li>Oyo and Freshmenu have a common investor – Lightspeed Venture Partners. </li><li>The hospitality unicorn has big dreams – it wants to become the world’s largest hotel chain in two years. </li></ul>Indian hospitality unicorn Oyo Rooms is <a href="https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/internet/oyo-in-talks-to-acquire-freshmenu-for-60m/68104058">reportedly</a> looking at venturing into foodtech by acquiring cloud kitchen startup Freshmenu. The acquisition, which could be valued at $50-60 million according to ETtech, will mark Oyo’s entry in the food space. Freshmenu, as a cloud kitchen startup (accepts only online delivery), has its own kitchens and delivery. Since its launch in 2014, the startup has gone on to have over <a href="https://yourstory.com/2019/01/freshmenu-funding-lightspeed-ventures">27</a> kitchens across Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi. In November, <a href="https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/startups/freshmenu-revenues-jump-72-to-rs-122-3-cr-even-as-losses-remain-flat-in-fy18/66868516">ETtech</a> reported that Freshmenu had seen a jump in its revenues to 72% at ₹122.3 crore in FY18 compared with ₹71 crore in FY17. Oyo and Freshmenu have a common investor – Lightspeed Venture Partners – and <a href="https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/oyo-rooms-may-invest-in-freshmenu-to-enter-food-delivery-business-3571111.html">reportedly</a>, it is Lightspeed that has brought the two startups together. Oyo Rooms has big ambitions – it wants to become the world’s <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/former-indigo-chief-is-aiming-to-make-the-6-year-old-oyo-the-worlds-largest-hotel-chain/articleshow/67536612.cms">biggest</a> hotel chain in the next two years. Introducing F&amp;B services will help the hospitality chain to offer more to its consumers. Meanwhile, Freshmenu works with Zomato and Swiggy and receives most of its orders from the two platforms. The hospitality startup Oyo had turned into a unicorn in 2018 after it received a funding of $800 million at a valuation of $5 billion. It has also made a mark globally in China, Saudi Arabia, Dubai and is even considering entering the big league with its entry into the US markets. In China, it become one of the top 10 hotel chains in just one year of operations. “Globally, we have reached over 4,58,000 fully controlled leased and franchised keys (rooms) with a realised value run rate of $1.8 billion,” said its CFO Abhishek Gupta to <a href="https://www.financialexpress.com/industry/sme/oyo-grows-over-4x-on-year-to-1-8-billion-claims-adding-more-rooms-than-top-3-hotel-chains-combined/1480527/">Financial Express</a>. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/former-indigo-chief-is-aiming-to-make-the-6-year-old-oyo-the-worlds-largest-hotel-chain/articleshow/67536612.cms">A 6-year-old Indian startup wants to be world’s biggest hotel chain</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/oyo-rooms-is-the-most-valuable-hotel-chain-in-south-asia-after-softbank-investment/articleshow/65964564.cms">OYO Rooms is the most valuable “hotel chain” in South Asia after Softbank investment</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/this-24-year-old-dropped-out-of-college-won-funding-from-peter-thiel-then-raised-480-million-for-his-startup/articleshow/65910683.cms">This 24-year-old dropped out of college, won funding from Peter Thiel, then raised $480 million for his startup</a>

Oyo wants a bite of foodtech, may acquire Freshmenu: Report

<ul><li><keyword id="1670338" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ritesh-Agarwal">Ritesh Agarwal</keyword> through his Cayman-registered company RA Hospitality Holdings, has invested $2 billion into <keyword id="2808667" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="OYO">OYO</keyword>. </li><li>OYO’s early investors <keyword id="455799" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Lightspeed-Venture-Partners">Lightspeed Venture Partners</keyword>, and <keyword id="563136" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sequoia-India">Sequoia India</keyword> are selling part of their stake in the company to increase Agarwal’s stake. </li><li>The company also claims that its revenue grew 4.4 times in June 2019 as compared to June 2018.</li></ul>In a first for the Indian startup community, OYO founder Ritesh Agarwal invested $2 billion into his own company. Agarwal made the investment through a Cayman-registered company, RA Hospitality Holdings. OYO’s early investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Sequoia India are selling a part of their stake in the company back to him. “It is a very exciting time for OYO right now as we make great living spaces come alive across all corners of the world from Texas to Tokyo. The deal remains subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals,” said Ritesh Agarwal, Founder &amp; CEO (Group), OYO Hotels &amp; Homes. Agarwal reportedly wants to raise his stake in the firm to over 30%. Currently, Agarwal holds 9.43% in the hospitality startup, while SoftBank, the Japanese investment firm, controls 45.69% of the company. Early investor Lightspeed has 13.4% stake, while Sequoia Capital has 10.24%. According to information sourced by paper.vc, Article 21.6 of Oyo’s Articles of Association prohibit Softbank from directly or indirectly, acquiring more than 49.99% of the fully diluted share capital of the company, without the consent of Aggarwal, Greenoaks, Lightspeed and Sequoia Capital. SoftBank has been an investor in OYO for a long time now. It was Softbank's investment that led OYO into the Indian unicorn club with a $5 billion valuation in September 2018, a huge jump from the $900 million valuation it had until then. The company also claims that its revenues grew 4.4 times in June 2019 as compared to June 2018). It has a million rooms, out of which over 200,000 are in India. OYO now has 20,000 buildings with its signature red and white logo branding on it. The Indian hospitality unicorn has been spreading its business far and wide. It recently became China’s largest hotel chain. OYO said that it will invest $300 million to expand its footprint in the United States – into cities like New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. It already has 50 hotels across 15 states in the US. It also launched services in Vietnam.

OYO’s Ritesh Agarwal sets a new benchmark – invests $2 billion into his own company to increase his stake

<ul><li>OYO, which already has 50 hotels in the US, has invested $300 million to expand its presence. </li><li>It will soon enter New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.</li><li>Softbank founder Masayoshi Son, who is one of the biggest backers of the startup, has said that OYO will be able to achieve its aim of being the world’s largest hotel network.</li></ul>Indian hospitality unicorn OYO is investing as much as $300 million to expand its footprint in the United States. The $5 billion company is already the largest network of hotels and rooms in South Asia, and the second largest in China. Now, it is looking to enter big markets like New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. It already has 50 hotels across 15 states in the US, with 350 employees. It is currently present in cities like Dallas, Houston, Augusta, Atlanta and Miami. “We are convinced there is unlimited potential for rapid growth in our newest home market, the United States,” said <keyword id="1670338" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ritesh-Agarwal">Ritesh Agarwal</keyword>, Founder &amp; CEO of OYO. With its expansion in the US, OYO claims it has already created 1000 jobs. The six-year old startup has been eyeing international growth for over two years. OYO expanded its business in China in 2017, and it has paid off. China is now one of its biggest markets. These aggressive growth plans support OYO’s ambition to become the world’s <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/former-indigo-chief-is-aiming-to-make-the-6-year-old-oyo-the-worlds-largest-hotel-chain/articleshow/67536612.cms">biggest</a> hotel chain. It is <a href="https://inc42.com/buzz/hospitality-unicorn-oyo-may-raise-1-bn-to-turn-decacorn/">reportedly</a> in talks to raise $1 billion to reach a valuation of $10 billion. And in this quest for global expansion, the company has the backing of big investors like the Japanese investment bank Softbank as well as Airbnb, which used to be a competitor in the hospitality until April 2019 when the Silicon Valley star decided to invest in OYO. Now, OYO is looking to spread its wings in the US which is one of the biggest markets for Airbnb. In a general shareholders meeting, SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/oyo-may-become-largest-hotel-network-in-the-world-softbank-s-masayoshi-son-119062000123_1.html">said</a> that OYO will soon become the world’s largest hotel network. It was Softbank's investment that led OYO into the Indian unicorn club with a $5 billion valuation in September 2018, a huge jump from the $900 million valuation it had until then. In April 2019, it announced a partnership with Japan-based SoftBank Corp and the SoftBank Vision fund expansion in the country. It runs housing rental service called OYO Life in Japan currently. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/home-renting-giant-airbnb-invests-in-indian-unicorn-oyo-rooms/articleshow/68670636.cms">Airbnb picks up a stake in its Indian rival Oyo Rooms</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/oyo-rooms-eyeing-acquisition-of-freshmenu/articleshow/68112104.cms">Oyo wants a bite of foodtech, may acquire Freshmenu: Report</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/former-indigo-chief-is-aiming-to-make-the-6-year-old-oyo-the-worlds-largest-hotel-chain/articleshow/67536612.cms">A 6-year-old Indian startup wants to be world’s biggest hotel chain</a>

OYO is making a march to the top US cities with $300 million and blessings from Softbank and Airbnb

New Delhi, Dec 2 () Hospitality firm OYO on Monday said it has elevated Aditya Ghosh, currently chief executive officer (India &amp; South Asia) for the hotels and homes business, as a member of its board of directors.
 Rohit Kapoor, currently CEO of the new real estate businesses of the company, has been appointed as CEO (India &amp; South Asia) for OYO Hotels &amp; Homes, it added.
 Ghosh will join OYO Hotels &amp; Homes founder &amp; Group CEO Ritesh Agarwal, Baja Corporation founder &amp; CEO Betsy Atkins and other industry experts like Munish Varma, Bejul Somaia and Mohit Bhatnagar, among others, on the company's board, OYO Hotels &amp; Homes said in a statement.
 In his role on the board, Ghosh will focus on five key areas namely, safety and security, customer experience, corporate governance, revenue management and stakeholder communications, the statement said.
 "Ghosh's strong business acumen, problem-solving capabilities, passion for building an organisation with strong corporate governance and a high-performing work culture that thrives on principles of diversity and inclusion, make him the perfect choice for this larger and more strategic role, at a global level," OYO Hotels &amp; Homes founder &amp; Group CEO Ritesh Agarwal said.
 The decision will help OYO achieve its goals globally, he added.
 On the appointment, Ghosh said, "I am thankful to the board for inviting me into the august group to further build OYO as a global brand to reckon with, by not just growing fast, but growing right."
 Ghosh and Kapoor will "work closely through the coming month to enable a smooth and seamless transition", the statement said.
 Rohit's remit will now also span the operations of over 18,000 hotels across over 500 cities in India and South Asia, it added. AKT HRS

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