Online hospitality major Oyo has announced that it has received a strategic investment from US-headquarter online marketplace and hospitality service Airbnb. While Oyo has confirmed that it has received funding as part of the Series E round that was announced in September, it did not divulge further details on the financials of this deal. Several media reports state that the deal could be between $150 million and $200 million.
As part of the Series E funding round, Oyo raised over $1 billion led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund and also saw participation from ride-hailing major Grab, China’s Didi Chuxing, Lightspeed, Sequoia and Greenoaks Capital.
As part of the deal, Oyo and Airbnb will explore opportunities to collaborate on a range of projects, including making Oyo accommodations available on the Airbnb platform. However, this is not an exclusive partnership. Oyo’s properties are also listed on Bookings.com and Expedia.
“As the 6th largest hotel chain operator in the world, we at, OYO Hotels & Homes, are committed to offering our guests and travelers around the world, great quality living spaces. We are happy to have Airbnb as our partner in this vision. Strong global strategic relationships that support this mission help drive collaborative efforts in the right direction. Airbnb’s strong global footprints and access to local communities will open up new opportunities for OYO Hotels & Homes to strengthen and grow while staying true to our core value proposition,” Maninder Gulati, Global Chief Strategy Officer at Oyo Hotels and Homes said.
Oyo, which is now present in 500 cities across 10 countries, also announced on Monday that it commenced operations in Tokyo under the Oyo Life brand. This is a joint venture between Oyo and Yahoo Japan Corporation. Oyo said in a statement that it has received over 11,000+ pre-registrations within days of the announcement of the service.