Holiday accommodation platform Airbnb has invested $100m to $200m in India-based short-term accommodation provider Oyo, Reuters reported yesterday, citing a source with direct knowledge of the matter.
The corporate did not disclose the size of its investment but Oyo confirmed on Monday that it has received funding from Airbnb. The $100m to $200m figure was first reported by The Information late last month.
Oyo runs a network of standardised rooms in a network of more than 8,500 partner hotels that spans China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal and the United Arab Emirates as well as Oyo’s home country which can be rented out using the company’s online platform.
The source told Reuters that Alibaba’s investment valued Oyo significantly higher than the $5bn valuation at which it closed a $1bn round in February this year that took its overall funding to $1.45bn.
Telecommunications firm SoftBank’s Vision Fund, Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners put up the first $800m of the round in September 2018, before Singapore-headquartered ride hailing platform Grab supplied $104m in December, and Grab’s Chinese counterpart Didi Chuxing added the final $100m to close the round.
Vision Fund had already led a $250m round for Oyo in 2017 that included insurance and aerospace technology producer Hero Enterprise, Sequoia Capital India, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Greenoaks Capital. Hotel owner China Lodging Group provided $10m shortly afterwards.
Oyo had raised $100m in a 2015 series B round that was led by SoftBank and backed by Lightspeed, Sequoia Capital India and Greenoaks Capital, before SoftBank invested another $62m the following year.
Sequoia India, Lightspeed and Greenoaks Capital contributed to the series B round as existing investors. Oyo’s earlier backers also include DSG Consumer Growth and Venture Nursery.
Greg Greeley, Airbnb’s president of homes, said: “Emerging markets like India and China are some of Airbnb’s fastest-growing, with our growth increasingly powered by tourism to and from these markets.”
