Oyo in advanced talks with Singapore's Grab to raise $100 million

Online hospitality player Oyo is reportedly in advanced talks to raise $100 million in funding from Singapore based ride-hailing firm Grab. This is part of the plan by the Indian hospitality startup to raise $1 billion, reports Economic Times.

Having expanded into the Chinese hospitality sector in a big way, OYO is also hitting other lucrative Asian markets like Indonesia. Of the total $1 billion, $600 million is being earmarked for the Chinese market with the remaining amount being utilized for operations in India and other countries where Oyo is making its foray. The Indonesian operations may receive $100 million.

The business in Indonesia is just about a couple of months old for OYO and is controlling around 1000 rooms as of now. Going ahead it has plans to be present in some 35 cities across the country. OYO is said to make an entry into the UK as well.

Grab, on the other hand, is also on a fast track as far as its business growth is concerned, having taken over the SE Asian operations of Uber and has its own plans to start the ride-hailing services in Indonesia. The talks to invest in Oyo by Grab are said to be in the final stages and the signing on the dotted lines may happen any moment. Incidentally, the SoftBank group of Japan is the investor common to both Oyo as well as Grab.  Grab, whose parent organization, A1 Holdings Inc is valued at $11 billion will bring in the investment in that company’s name only.

Oyo is currently valued at $5 billion, the figure revealed at the time of the last investment tranche it received in September and Grab’s investment will come in keeping the same valuation as the basis. Oyo and Grab have not officially confirmed this development.