Some are stories that are written on the pages of history that we study and prepare. On the other hand, some are the reality that strikes with enough wonder to sit and think about the possibilities of success in today’s world. 

Today, Business Outreach Magazine is more than thrilled to present in front of our avid readers, the success story of Ritesh Agarwal, who is the founder and CEO of OYO Rooms. Being just another regular boy from a regular neighborhood, Ritesh Agarwal fought his way towards excellence and created an empire, based on principles and efficient service. 

Background of Ritesh Agarwal:

Ritesh Agarwal comes from a humble background from Bissam, Cuttack in Odisha. Being from a Marwari family, Ritesh was brought up in the region of Titilagarh. His family had a small shop that was present in the area of Rayagada, which is located in Odisha’s Southern part. Ritesh Agarwal did his schooling from the Sacred Heart School that was present in Rayagada. 

Although Ritesh was young, the idea to venture for a business prospect was pondered upon him since childhood. When he was about 13 years old, he used to sell SIM cards. Ritesh completed his schooling from St. Johns Senior Secondary School that was located in Bundi Road in Kota, Rajasthan. 

In the year 2011, he moved to Delhi to study in college. But the desire for starting a venture for his own deeply attracted his daily livelihood. Ritesh Agarwal was awarded with the Thiel Fellowship, introduced by Peter Thiel in the year 2013. He dropped out from his college and pursued his passion for entrepreneurship. 

Ritesh Agarwal was a visionary and ahead of his time. He noticed that the hospitality sector in India was extremely unorganized and this made him start Oravel Stays, which later became OYO Rooms. The startup offered booking rooms in hotels at an affordable rate and provided industry standards services to the customers. More people got interested in OYO Rooms as the rates were inexpensive and the hospitality was top-notch. 

Growth of OYO Rooms :

The startup was approved by Venture Nursery in the year 2012 in their accelerator program. Later in the year 2013, OYO Rooms won Thiel Fellowship and was awarded with a grant of $ 100,000. In the month of May in 2013, OYO Rooms was officially launched. About $ 1 billion was raised by the company in the month of September in 2018 and in the year 2019 in July, Ritesh Agarwal acquired $ 2 billion of his company’s shares and tripled his net worth. 

The Hurun Rich List of the year 2020 estimated the overall net worth of Ritesh Agarwal to be about $ 1.1 billion which made him the youngest billionaire second to Kylie Jenner and is self-made. The Forbes 30 under 30 in Asia also listed Ritesh Agarwal in their portfolio to express the struggles and the success behind the journey of the Odisha boy.  In the month of June in 2022, Ritesh Agarwal was awarded as the Global 100 in the industry of Hospitality by the International Hospitality Institute. The list includes the top 100 global leaders who are creating innovation and economic development in the sector of hospitality. 

OYO Rooms is one of the most reputed and successful unicorns in India. In the year 2021, during the month of August, the company bagged a funding of about $ 4.1 billion. OYO Rooms also expanded their business to countries like the UK, Malaysia, Nepal and China, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Vietnam and many more. 

Expansion :

The enormous success and growth of OYO Rooms have led the company to employ about 17,000 individuals. Out of those numbers about 8,000 employees are from India and South Asia. The company currently works on a franchise and lease business model. The chain of hotels are now more valued than Taj and Oberoi. Before 2020, the total revenue of the company was around Rs. 13,413.26 crore. 

Citing the issues of the pandemic, the income in the year 2021 was about Rs. 4,157.38 crores. Post pandemic and after numerous lay-offs, OYO Rooms have planned a strategic step by gathering funding from AirBnb, Microsoft along with the ride-aggregators from China, Didi Chuxing, and many others.

The total valuation of the company is about $ 9.6 billion that was recorded in the year 2021 after the $ 5 million of funding from Microsoft. Some of the companies that OYO Rooms acquired under the leadership of Ritesh Agarwal includes Danamica, a science-firm that is based in Denmark. 

The company was bought in the year 2019 at about $ 10 million. In 2022, OYO Rooms acquired Direct Booker on the 9th of May. This company is from Croatia and has 3,200 homes under its name and has served a massive customer base of about 2 million till date. Till today, OYO Rooms with Ritesh Agarwal as the CEO raised about 22 rounds of funding. 

There are reports that indicate that OYO Rooms are preparing for their Initial Public Offering and plans to bag about $ 1 billion in the rounds of the IPO. In this venture, the company aims to sell shares from shareholders that are already present and to also introduce some fresh issues of shares. 

Key Investors and Funding:

According to several reports, OYO has planned to shortlist JP Morgan, Kotak Mahindra, and CitiBank for its IPO. During the pandemic, the hospitality industry was severely affected and aims to get up on their feet. A recovery is expected by the hospitality sector as the unwinding process from the unforeseen circumstances has already started. Some of the prominent investors of OYO Rooms include SoftBank Group, Sequoia India, Lightspeed India, and many others. 

In October of 2019, OYO Rooms acquired a funding of about $ 1.5 million from investors like Lightspeed India, Sequoia Capital, and SoftBank. In the month of January in 2022, a total number of 500 employees or more bought the company’s share of about Rs. 3 crores. The complete worth of these shares comes to around Rs. 330 crores. In the year 2019, OYO Rooms and Ritesh Agarwal bought a rental company for stays in vacation based in Amsterdam, named @Leisure Group. 

The company also started a programme named OPEN, which allowed the partner hotels to achieve a set business goal. The co-OYO app introduced by the company also provided clarity on the customer metrics and business transparency. 

Being one of the prominent unicorns in this country, the legacy of OYO Rooms is sure to stay for more generations. The technology-driven business model coupled with dominant acquisitions and customer appreciation have taken the company’s worth ten folds. The funding of about $ 10 billion in the year 2019, took OYO towards further growth and scalability. 

Some Takeaways :

It is really inspiring to look up to such stories of success and consider that life has so much to offer. Something that excites Business Outreach Magazine is that innovation knows no boundaries and demands no age and time. Creativity can spark anytime and it is to us to seize the opportunity and act upon it. The ultimate motivation lies in the fact that the present leads to the consequences for the future and that will be the true purpose of a person’s life. If someone respects the time and patience, success is sure to come in any form.