Oyo, which is India’s biggest startup in the field of hospitality has decided to buy @ Leisure Group which is an Amsterdam based rental company. The estimated amount is €369 million. This agreement is being considered as Oyo’s largest-ever acquisition.
The companies Soft Bank Group Corp and Airbnb made a joint statement that Oyo will indeed buy @ Leisure Group from Axel Springer SE which is a German media firm. This deal will enable the Oyo company to make a firm root in Europe and give a push up to their plan of international expansion. When considering internationally, Oyo is present only in the United Kingdom, having only 30 hotels under Oyo Hotels and Oyo Townhouse. The value of the transaction between Oyo and @ Leisure Group has not yet been disclosed officially. However, a spokesperson aware of the deal said that the amount for the acquisition has been fixed at €369 million.
The founder and chief executive officer of Oyo- Ritesh Agarwal said that vacation homes are a great opportunity to expand the business. Around 115,000 units of homes have been added to the already increasing number of beautiful homes. He also said that the company is excited to witness and continue the global industry leader.
The @ Leisure Group operates under three brands namely- Belvilla, Dancenter, and Danland. The group has more than 30,000-holiday homes in Europe spread across 13 countries. They also offer a home-management service which is subscription-based through a brand Traum-Ferienwohnungen who operate over 85,000 homes in 50 countries.
Ritesh Agarwal, the founder of Oyo expressed his confidence in @Leisure Group by saying that they have proved their capability by making Europe a hub for vacation rentals. He also expressed that the company is keen to leverage their projects to create more beautiful Vacation rentals and develop a better urban home experience for millions of tourists from all across the globe, they can use the Oyo referral code for a quick check.
By joining hands with @ Leisure Group, Oyo will be present in more than 800 cities in around 24 countries such as United States, China, Malaysia, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Japan and of course India to name a few.
Oyo Homes which has launched in 2017, allows the customers to use Oyo referral code for their 15,000 villas and apartment units present all around the world.
The chief executive officer of @ Leisure Group also expressed their delight on the acquisition between them and Oyo. He also added that the joined ventures would create quality and more beautiful spaces. According to him, @ Leisure Group was founded with a mission to identify and provide services to all vacation and home rentals by focusing completely on a hassle-free experience for the guests as well as the homeowners.
Oyo along with the help of leading investors such as Soft Bank Vision Fund, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Ventures, Hero Enterprise, and China Lodging group manage around 18000 buildings across the globe. They also offer Oyo referral code in 636,000 units and 40,000-holiday homes around the world.
Joint Ventures With Japan
Oyo the biggest hospitality chain startup in India has started operations in Japan. By forming a joint venture with Soft Bank which is based in Tokyo and Soft Bank Vision Fund, they have decided to create out hotels in Japan. Prasun Choudhary will be acting as the operating partner for this new venture-who is also one of the founding members of Oyo.
Ritesh Agarwal, who is the founder and group CEO at Oyo says that Japan had started to emerge as the most popular tourist destination in Asia. This brings a great opportunity for Oyo to contribute to the development of the local economy of the country by promoting the tourists. Customers would be able to make use of Oyo referral code in order to book the Out Hotels in Japan.
Few days after Oyo had raised $150-200 million from a rental platform Airbnb, the development regarding the joint ventures came out. The global expansion of Oyo has been vast over the past year by its entry into the markets of China, United States, United Arab Emirates, and the Philippines.
JUMP IN OYO’S INDIA REVENUE
Oyo has reported a jump in its revenue in India from Rs.107 crore in FY17 to Rs.327 crore by the end of March 2018. The company has also seen a growth in stayed nights to be growing more than five from 75 million to 99 million from 2017 to December 2018. In the India market, the hospitality Startup Oyo had an annual revenues run rate of $1.2 billion by the end of last December. The company has entered the international market of Philippines and Indonesia in recent years, however, China and India are still it’s largest market.