India-based budget hotel booking platform Oyo Rooms is hoping to secure between $300m and $500m from the SoftBank Vision Fund, a $100bn vehicle managed by telecoms group SoftBank, the Economic Times wrote today.
The transaction, if it goes ahead, would ascribe Oyo Rooms a valuation of $1.2bn post-money and may give SoftBank a majority stake of just over 50%, unnamed sources have told the newspaper. Other new and existing backers may also join the round.
Founded in 2012, Oyo operates an online platform for users to book branded rooms in partner, budget hotels that guarantee a certain standard of accommodation. The company currently manages a network of 7,000 hotels with 70,000 rooms across 200 cities.
The money would support a further expansion, in India and internationally, beginning with Malaysia. In India, the company will put a particular focus on its Townhouse initiative, which offers self-managed upmarket properties and is expected to count 200 to 250 locations by the end of 2017.
SoftBank previously supplied $62m in August 2016, after leading a $100m series B round twelve months earlier. The series B also included VC firms Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital and Greenoaks Capital at a $400m valuation.
Lightspeed, Sequoia, Greenoaks, DSG Consumer Partners and Venture Nursery had earlier injected more than $25.5m in funding to the company.
Ritesh Agarwal, founder of Oyo Rooms, told the Economic Times: “We do not wish to comment on funding and future investments at this.
“SoftBank has been a valued partner as we continue on our path to transform the hospitality space in India by enabling quality living spaces through both exclusively managed Oyo Rooms and self-operated Townhouses.”