Oyo Rooms, an India-based budget hotel booking platform backed by telecommunications and internet group SoftBank, is set to raise Rs 4.1bn ($61.3m) in new funding from existing shareholders, the Economic Times reported today.
The round will value Oyo at about $460m, according to a regulatory filing, and Oyo also intends to buy back about $9m of shares from an unnamed shareholder ET believes could well be accelerator VentureNursery.
Launched in early 2013 with one hotel, Oyo runs an online platform that enables users to book rooms from the company’s network of partner hotels, which now spans 184 Indian cities.
The company will use the funding to support its Flagship initiative, which entails it taking over the entirety of a hotel’s inventory so it can offer a more premium accommodation experience. It also intends to expand into bed and breakfasts and Airbnb-like homestays.
VentureNursery provided Oyo’s initial seed funding in 2012 before venture capital firms Lightspeed Venture Partners and DSG Consumer Partners added $500,000 in 2014. Lightspeed, Sequoia Capital and Greenoaks Capital supplied $25m in series A capital in March 2015.
SoftBank then led a $100m series B round for Oyo in August that included Lightspeed, Sequoia and Greenoaks and valued Oyo at $400m. Press reports in April this year stated Oyo’s existing backers had invested another $100m, but ET’s report makes no mention of that round.