India Hotel Brand Oyo Rooms Attracts a $10 Million Strategic Investment From China Lodging Group
Photo Credit: Oyo Rooms markets itself to young couples in India who may need to get away from the family for a bit to find some private time. Oyo Rooms
Skift Take
The 23-year-old CEO of loss-generating hotel aggregator Oyo Rooms has a business vision that has attracted total funding of $446 million to date. What could go wrong? Well...
China Lodging Group, which owns 3,541 hotels in China, has revealed it made a $10 million strategic investment in Oyo Rooms, a fast-growing marketplace for branded hotels in India.
The move follows last week’s $250 million funding round, led by SoftBank. It is a top-up that came later but part of the same round (valuation) - so total amount is $250 million, plus $10 million.
Taken altogether, Oyo Rooms has raised $446 million, to date.
The investments highlight a funding arms race in a highly competitive space in India that finds aggregators branding and setting standards for previously unbranded and independent budget hotels.
China Lodging Group operates brands that include Joya, Manxin, and Ji. It is among the world's 10 largest hotel groups by market capitalization, which is around $7.87 billion.
The Group's Oyo investment includes a memorandum of understanding that Oyo is calling for a strategic alliance. The two companies did not share details but said it is likel
