‘Living the good life’ isn’t just Oyo’s motto but words to list by it seems. The Indian budget hotel chain start-up is all dressed and ready for an IPO next week, as it plans to raise almost $1.2b at a $9.6b valuation.
The SoftBank-backed startup has been riding high pre-listing as it just closed off a $5m investment from Microsoft (MSFT) two months ago and counts global VC firm, Lightspeed Partners, and Airbnb (ABNB) among its other investors. The company specializes in allowing users to manage bookings and payments through the app’s in-house digital platform, while also sourcing data from third-party services like booking.com to help users grab the best deal out there. The startup is aiming to list in Mumbai, most likely on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), and currently sources most of its revenues from India, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Europe.
Why it matters
At a $9.6b valuation, Oyo stands as one of the highly-valued startups in South Asia. With Indian firms like Zomato (ZOMATO), Paytm, and PolicyBazaar planning future listings on local exchanges as well, an IPO could help the company unlock further increases in scale as investors pile in to a hot Indian IPO market.
