As it grows worldwide, Oyo Hotels & Homes is attracting further investment. The Indian company reportedly is in talks to raise nearly $1 billion in fresh capital from both new investors and existing backers like Japanese multinational conglomerate SoftBank. This could bring the startup's valuation to between $10 billion and $12 billion.
According to Indian news site Times Now News, the company could hit the valuation by the next quarter. "The company is looking at a new lead investor and there is high interest from both financial and strategic investors," a source told the site. Indian financial website Moneycontrol reports that Softbank will fund "a large chunk" of the sum and will buy out stakes of many of the existing investors of the company. SoftBank reportedly holds a nearly 46 percent stake in the company after investing $1 billion.
Oyo, however, has denied the deal. In a statement, a spokesperson told the site that the report was speculation. “Oyo Hotels & Homes has a very healthy balance sheet and we are not in talks with any investors. We don’t have any further comments."
The news comes as Oyo has grown exponentially across the globe, establishing a strong presence in China and entering Europe and the U.S. At only six years old, the company reportedly is the sixth largest hotel chain in the world with more than 458,000 guestrooms in its portfolio.