India-based startup Oyo, known for its network of budget hotels, has raised $1 billion in new funding to grow its business in China and expand into other international markets.
The company raised $1 billion from SoftBank Vision Fund, Sequoia Capital and other investors to fund expansion in countries.
TechCrunch reports, the company announced an expansion beyond India into China this summer and it is also present Nepal and Malaysia. More recently, it entered the UK market.
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However the company's 24-year old founder has set his goals to reach the very top of the hospitality industry.
“By 2023, we will be the world’s largest hotel chain,” the 24-year-old founder Ritesh Agarwal said in a recent interview to Bloomberg. “We want to convert broken, unbranded assets around the globe into better-quality living spaces,” he said.
Agarwal started the company in May 2013 when he was just 19 years old and Oyo is now valued higher than IHCL's Taj hotels and EIC's Oberoi Hotels.
Oyo has more than 125,000 rooms in India and about 87,000 in China across 171 cities, according to the company.