Ritesh Agarwal: The OYO Visionary Dynamic Indian Billionaire
Ritesh Agarwal, the visionary entrepreneur behind OYO, has carved a remarkable path in the hospitality industry in PAN India and globally, redefining the way the world experiences accommodation. Ritesh’s journey is nothing short of inspirational. As the founder and CEO of OYO, Ritesh has not only transformed the landscape of budget accommodation but has also become one of India’s youngest and most successful entrepreneurs, leaving an indelible mark on the global business stage.
In this article, I will try to acquaint readers with this young billionaire’s journey (aged 30+ years now), from an ordinary small-town boy to an extraordinary architect who reshaped the unbranded accommodation industry with cutting-edge technology, and thus OYO was born.
Value Addition Model Of OYO
- The company has developed a two-sided technology platform to address key points between patrons (owners, lessors, and operators in storefronts) on the supply side and customers on the demand side (travellers and guests) who book accommodation at their patron storefronts through a web platform.
- The intent is to transform fragmented and unbranded hospitality assets into branded, digitally-enabled hotels & homes.
- The web platform includes OYO’s App, web & mobile web platforms, online travel agents, and corporate tie-ups. OYO offers 40+ integrated products and solutions to patrons who operate over 174,000+ hotels and homes across 35+ countries.
Behind OYO: Unveiling The Parent Company
The Parent Company: ORAVEL STAYS LIMITED [ earlier Oravel Stays (P) Limited ]
Date of Incorporation of the Company: February 21, 2012
Category: A non-government, unlisted company domiciled in India incorporated under the provisions of the Companies Act and limited by shares.
Registered Office: Ahmedabad, Gujrat, India.
Corporate Office: Gurugram, Haryana, India.
Industry:- Hospitality.
The OYO Chain started in 2013.
Website:-https://www.oyorooms.com/
The Members On the Board of OYO’s Parent Company
- Mr. Ritesh Agarwal, Founder, Chairman and Non-Executive Director
- Mr. Aditya Ghosh, Non-Executive Director
- Besides, among the four (4) non-executive independent directors, there is one (1) woman director and two (2) key management personnel.
Annual Report (OYO’s Parent Company) (FY 2022-23) Insights: Unraveling The Numbers
The issued, subscribed and paid-up capital of the company stands as of March 31, 2023, at INR 1,33,92,29,327/- (Indian rupees, One Hundred and Thirty-Three crores, Ninety-Two lakhs, Twenty-Nine Thousand, Three Hundred and Twenty-Seven), comprising of
1,32,81,23,967 Equity Shares of INR 1 each,
80,160 preference shares of INR 1 each and
11,02,520 preference shares of INR 10 each.
The company’s consolidated financials show that operations have grown in recent years, as shown below. [ Amount in INR (R/Off) in millions ]
| SERIAL NUMBER | PARTICULARS | FY 2022 – 2023 | FY 2021 – 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Gross Booking value [G.B.V] | 95,591 /- | 81,009 /- |
| 2. | Revenue from contracts with customers | 54,639 /- | 47,814 /- |
| 3. | Net Loss after Tax | (12,865.18) | (19,415.63) |
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OYO IPO Insights: Exciting Times Ahead For Ritesh Agarwal
Subject to necessary approvals and consideration, the company is proposing an IPO (initial public offering). In connection with the IPO, the company has filed the Pre-draft Draft Red Herring Prospectus dated March 30, 2023, with SEBI.
OYO’s Triumphs In Trophies: Awards Earned On Journey To Success
| SERIAL NUMBER | AWARD NAME | AWARD BESTOWER | AWARDEE | AWARD CATEGORY |
| 1. | Aegis Graham Bell Awards (AGBA)-13th edition [In February 2023] | Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India. | O Y O | The most innovative AI product in Plutus pricing. |
| 2. | The Travel and Hospitality Award [In October 2022] | MoEngage Customer Excellence Awards 2022 | O Y O | Segmentation, personalization and DPM-based communication |
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Ritesh’s Revisit To Good Old Days: Balancing Books And Business
Ritesh, born on November 16, 1993, was the youngest of four siblings in a Marwari businessman family in Bissam Cuttak town, Rayagada district, Southern Orissa. His father, Ramesh Agarwal, operated a rented store selling packaged products for a living, while his mother, Bela Agarwal, managed the household.
Ritesh attended Sacred Heart School in Rayagada, Orissa, where he excelled academically, explored writing, and participated in sports. In grades 4 and 5, he began a small business selling railway tickets online, earning Rs. 50 to 100. By grades 7 and 8, he had expanded into selling AIRTEL SIM cards, gaining valuable insights into business fundamentals like revenue, cost, profit, loss, marketing, and distribution. He also learned accountability through managing his failures.
Tech Enthusiast Ritesh’s Love For Learning Technology
Though Ritesh was indecisive about his future occupation, he showed a passion for learning digital technology. At the tender age of ten (10), he started taking lessons in computer programming from an engineer who came to stay in Rayagada with his family. Over the years, he started creating programs on his own. This coding knowledge later helped him build the global brand “OYO.”.
Ritesh Agarwal’s Ticket To Kota For Engineering
Engineering was the only choice in his house as all his siblings pursued engineering, so post-schooling, he moved to Kota, Rajasthan, a place where many opportunities were waiting. During his school days, he was keen to do some business side by side while studying. So at weekends, he used to go to Delhi to do some internships at big companies. He used to design websites for clients, and marketing online events for clients are some areas where he tried his hand.
The TIE New Delhi: A Transformative Turning Point For Ritesh Agarwal
In 2010, he managed to participate in the famous TIE (The IndUS Entrepreneurs) program in New Delhi, and for the first time, he met all the big entrepreneurs, CEOs, and vice presidents of big companies all under one umbrella. Meeting Sanjeev Bikhchandani was a dream come true for him. It helped him later in the process of building entrepreneurship.
WEBSITE: https://delhi.tie.org/
How Was “Oravel Stays Limited” Born In The Hands Of Ritesh Agarwal?
Ritesh’s nightmare stay at hotels in India with a limited budget prompted him to feel the inconvenience of travelers. On the contrary, he noticed that many budget-friendly, neat, and clean hotels were not listed online. These two opposite scenarios triggered him to create an online portal for affordable accommodations, and thus ORAVEL STAYS (P) LTD was born in 2011, inspired by the Airbnb Model of the United States of America. It was later converted to Oravel Stays Limited in 2012.
Funding Crunch: Challenges Faced And Solutions Derived By Ritesh Agarwal
Now, to run a portal like this, the basics were “listing information about hotels and accommodations” and looking for a Santa Claus to finance his model. He took help from the interns at “INTERNSHALA” to feed information for his portal, and for financing, he approached Vishal Gondal, an angel investor, for INR thirty (30) lakhs instead of a 15% stake in his company. On refusal, he approached a start-up financier in India, “Venture Nursery,” to finance his brand, “Oravel,” and this time Ritesh succeeded.
In the middle of 2012, Ritesh, along with partner Manish Sinha, launched OYO INNS & SUITS”. At OYO, the company signs contracts with property owners for services like vendor management and technology. The idea was to take old hotels, renovate them, and list them on the Oravel portal to attract bookings. But somehow OYO Inns failed to catch the public eye, and learning from his mistakes led him to start the game-changer “OYO Chain Hospitality” in the next year.
THE GAME CHANGER “Thiel Fellowship” and Embark “OYO CHAIN”
On May 10, 2013, Ritesh became the only winner from India out of twenty (20) winners of the prestigious “Thiel Fellowship,” sponsored by Peter Thiel (co-founder of PayPal & Facebook). The fellowship grants $1,00,000/- to budding entrepreneurs under the age of twenty (20) and to sign a non-revocable contract for two years.
Ritesh had no choice but to drop college to make the most of the fellowship, but his parents did not welcome the discontinuance of formal education. This year, Ritesh launched the OYO chain. He opened the first OYO with patron Rajesh Yadav in Gurugram, India, and the portal was named “Oyorooms.com.”. The OYO app launched in 2015 works well for price-conscious travellers who search locations out of many choiceable options.
Walking And Reaching Milestones By Ritesh Agarwal Towards Unicorn
- 2015: expanded to 100 cities and exceeded 10,000 rooms. At 22 years of age, Ritesh was featured in FORBES “30 UNDER 30” List for Asia
- 2016: Expanded to Malaysia, hit the 1 million check-in mark for the first time.
- 2017: Launched OYO Farmhouse.
- 2018: expanded to China, Indonesia, and the United Kingdom; launched the long-stay rental service “OYO LIFE;” launched the customer loyalty program “OYO WIZARD.” To expand global footprints, venture funding of USD 1 billion came from Japan’s Softbank Visions Fund, Silicon Valley’s Sequoia Capital, and other investors, thereby making OYO a “UNICORN.”
- 2019: Launched in the USA, Europe, and the Middle East, “OYO LITE” and “YO! Chat” for automated customer service.
- 2020: Launched “DISCOVER OYO,” a low-cost new user acquisition engine.
- 2021:The OYO app crossed the 1 billion download mark and launched “OYO 360”, an onboarding platform for patrons
- 2023: He became the judge for the show “Shark Tank India, Season 3, which was telecasted on Sony LIV. His estimated net worth of INR 15,000 crore at the tender age of 30 makes him a shark—one of the youngest billionaires in India.
Blissful Unions: A Journey Of Marriage And Parenthood By Ritesh Agarwal
- On March 7, 2023, Ritesh tied the knot with his college friend Geetansha Sood, who hails from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, and is now a director of the Kanpur-based company Formation Ventures Limited, as reported by DNA newspaper.
- On December 7, 2023, son Aryan came into Ritesh and Geet’s lives to start a new era, as announced by Ritesh in his X handle.
UNTIME FAREWELL: Demise Of Ritesh Agarwal’s Father
On March 10, 2023, three days after his marriage, Ritesh lost his father, Ramesh Agarwal (65 years old), who fell from a high-rise building in Gurugram, Haryana.
CONCLUDING NOTE
Ritesh once quoted in his Twitter Handle, “It’s better to be a key player in a small but rapidly growing market versus being a small player in a large market.” He truly justifies the lines.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q. 1: What is an IPO in India?
Ans. IPO stands for “Initial Public Offering.”. Shares of a company are sold to the public for the first time through the primary capital market to raise capital.
Q. 2: What is TIE in India?
Ans. The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE) is a non-profit company incorporated to nurture Start-Ups in India by educating, mentoring, networking, providing funding, etc.
Q. 3: What is an Airbnb?
Ans. Airbnb stands for “Airbed and Breakfast,” a service that lets property owners rent out their spaces to travellers.
Q. 4: What is a UNICORN?
Ans. A privately owned start-up with a valuation of over USD 1 billion. A term coined by venture capitalist Aileen Lee in 2013 to describe rare tech start-ups that were valued at more than USD 1 billion.
Q. 5: Who is Sanjeev Bikhchandani?
Ans. He is an Indian billionaire businessman and a Padma Shri awardee (Year 2020) in the category of trade & industry. He is the founder and executive vice chairman of “Info Edge (India) Limited,” an Indian technology company that owns job portal Naukri.com, education portal Shiksha.com, matrimony portal Jeevansathi.com, and real estate portal 99Acres.com. Famously known as “The Godfather of the Indian Internet,“
