Global travel tech firm OYO plans to file its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) in November, eyeing a $7-8 billion valuation for its IPO, sources said. The company is expected to approach its board with the proposal next week, people familiar with the matter told PTI.
The National Company Law Tribunal has directed to start insolvency proceedings against OYO Hotels and Homes Pvt Ltd on March 30, according to a public announcement by the interim resolution professional.
Hospitality firm OYO is looking to raise $600 million (over Rs 4,380 crore) in debt from the US institutional investors to service its existing loans, sources in know of the matter said on Thursday. The company is raising $600 million in a term loan B (TLB) structure, the sources said. The company is taking the TLB to service its existing loans which are on higher interest rates, they added.
Hospitality firm OYO is planning to raise up to $1.2 billion (around Rs 8,000 crore) through an initial public offering and is expected to file the draft red herring prospectus with Sebi next week, sources told PTI on Thursday. OYO has appointed investment banks like JPMorgan, Citi and Kotak Mahindra Capital to manage its public issue, they added. Comments from OYO could not be obtained at the time of filing the story. The proposed initial public offer (IPO) plan of the hospitality firm follows the spectacular success of Zomato's IPO that ended with a bumper oversubscription on July 16, and was biggest since March 2020.
Hospitality firm OYO will be shifting to a 4-day work week, OYO founder and group CEO Ritesh Agarwal said in a tweet on Wednesday, as the company also launched a no questions asked flexible infinite paid leaves initiative. Agarwal in a tweet noted that COVID-19 continues to test the physical and mental well-being of people. One thing that truly matters is having more time for our loved ones and ourselves.
'Co-living is a phenomenon that is bound to strike the right chord with young people everywhere and India will lead the charge as the testing ground for all such ideas.'
Currently, the company is present in over 259 Indian cities, with over 8,700 buildings (hotels and homes) and more than 173,000 rooms.
Oyo has recently undergone large-scale corporate restructuring, setting up several subsidiaries and bifurcating operations globally.
Musk said on Friday that he believes India-US ties are "trending positive" and that he favours an enhanced trade partnership between the two nations.
One of the implications of the new strategic objectives for 2020, is that, like the leadership team, OYO will reorganise more teams across businesses and functions.
Ritesh Agarwal, founder of Oyo Hotels and Homes, seems to be making all the right moves. In a quick chat with Karan Choudhury and Neha Alawadhi, Agarwal explains the moves he has made in the past 12 months to make his operations global.
'Son believes India has a significant opportunity in chip design, especially in creating IP that will be uniquely Indian.'
This e-series funding round also makes OYO the most valued hospitality company in the country, ahead of the Tata group's Indian Hotels Company, which owns the Taj brand of hotels, and EIH, which owns the Oberoi brand of hotels.
The company's growth is fuelled by its success in China with presence in 337 cities with over 500,000 rooms, followed by growth in Indonesia with presence in 80 cities and over 20,000 rooms and other regions in Asia
Online travel portals are flooded with flight and train bookings, hotels teeming with requests for accommodation, and spiritual merchandise on e-commerce platforms is selling like hotcakes. As the consecration ceremony of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya on January 22 draws near, Indians across the country are putting their travelling boots on as the temple frenzy catches on. India's largest travel technology (traveltech) platform MakeMyTrip (MMT) has witnessed a substantial four-fold increase in bookings for Ayodhya compared to the previous year.
Unacademy on Monday said it has raised $440 million (about Rs 3,270.8 crore) in funding from a clutch of investors including Temasek, General Atlantic, and Softbank Vision Fund, valuing the edtech major at $3.44 billion. The investment is expected to help Unacademy expand its offerings, deepen its presence and compete more aggressively against rivals such as Byju's in the burgeoning ed-tech space in India that has been witnessing strong uptake amid the pandemic. The series H round was led by Temasek, with super pro-rata participation from General Atlantic, Tiger Global, and Softbank Vision Fund, a statement said.
As regular promotional discounts and offers rolled out by well-funded apps determine the demand trend, online hospitality aggregators face growing discontent from restaurants and hotels over commissions and pricing power.
A top management leadership team from SoftBank has been coming to India in the last few days to meet the founders of start-ups and other investors, signalling the country's emergence as a pivotal market for the global investment giant. Based on current estimates, India accounts for nearly 10 per cent ($20 billion) of SoftBank's invested assets under management (AUM) globally. That makes the country its third largest market after the US and China.
Funding winter and corporate governance woes separated the men from the boys in the country's startup space in 2023 that saw funds into the segment tapering to just around $8 billion. All said, investors are hopeful of strong growth of the maturing startup ecosystem in the new year. Edtech and health tech segments that grew exponentially during the pandemic plunged into an abyss of financial uncertainties, with several firms shuttering their business, and valuation of prominent players like BYJU'S and PharmEasy plummeting 85-90 per cent.
Rishad Premji, chairman of IT services major Wipro, saw his compensation for FY23 decline by almost 50 per cent year-on-year, due to a fall in the firm's profit. According to the Form 20-F, filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission by Wipro, Premji's compensation for FY23 was $951,353, down 50 per cent from $1,819,022 in FY22. "Rishad A Premji is entitled to a commission at the rate of 0.35 per cent on incremental consolidated net profits of Wipro Limited over the previous fiscal year. However, in light of the fact that the incremental consolidated net profits for fiscal year 2023 was negative, the Company determined that no commission was payable for fiscal year 2023 to Mr Rishad A. Premji," said the company in the filing.
'Consumers are willing to increase travel spends by 20-30 per cent versus pre-pandemic.'
After years of being sequestered by the pandemic, some intrepid travellers are planning to settle their score with the novel coronavirus. With fewer or no travel curbs, they are eager to get back on the road, again. Hotels and tour operators, too, are eager to shed excess Covid baggage. And this year's Diwali promises to add that extra layer sparkle with the introduction of new flights.
The data shows the average room rate of two-star hotels increased by 8.5 per cent in FY18, even though it lagged on occupancy at 61.8 per cent, down 1.4 per cent year-on-year
The first step to keeping your job safe, experts tell Rediff.com's Divya Nair, is understanding why layoffs happen.
Unacademy may see a funding dry spell for at least next 12-18 months and even last till 24 months and will cut costs to weather the lean period, said the chief executive of the education technology unicorn that recently laid off more than 600 employees. "This is a test for all of us. We must learn to work under constraints and focus on profitability at all costs. We must survive the winter," said Unacademy's co-founder and CEO Gaurav Munjal in a letter to the employees. "Winter is here. We are looking at a time when the funding will dry up for at least 12-18 months.
Japanese tech investor SoftBank may end up investing around $1 billion in India in 2022, nearly a third of what it did last year, according to people closely tracking its plans. Last year, SoftBank undertook investments of $3.2 billion in 12 deals. In the first five months of CY22, the giant investor has invested $400-500 million in five deals.
Falling valuations, slowing funding rounds and faltering investor sentiment seem to have prompted many start-ups to lay off employees in a bid to conserve cash. The latest to do so is SoftBank-backed Cars24, a leading e-commerce platform for pre-owned vehicles, which has laid off over 600 staff, according to sources in the know. The move, they said, is aimed at conserving cash amid cautious investor sentiment and a slowdown in funding.
After a recent fall in profit, Masayoshi Son of SoftBank announced that the Japanese tech investor will look at dramatic cost-cutting. Before he does that, investments in India for calendar year 2022 (CY22) will fall radically, observed sources in the know. Last year, the company had invested around $3.2-3.5 billion in the Indian start-up ecosystem - almost 10 per cent of the total investment the sector received. For CY22, the investments may not even touch $1 billion.
Experts believe more efforts would be needed in future funding rounds.
Unlike many peers in the VC space, LSE grad Juneja doesn't have an entrepreneurial background but is said to be strong in finance skills
As per market estimates, the new round would value the city-based firm at about $ 4-5 billion.
How many 22 year olds gets the ears and eyes of Yogi Deveshwar, Kumarmangalam Birla, Shashi Ruia, T V Narendran and Naveen Patnaik?
Few angels have seen exits; till that happens, they won't be rushing to invest again.
Investments totaling over $9.5 billion in Jio Platforms by a clutch of private equity firms, following social media giant Facebook's $5.7 billion mid-April investment in the company, helped overall.
Others in the top 10 include Uday Kotak at the 6th place with a wealth of Rs 94,100 crore, Cyrus S Poonawalla at 7th position with Rs 88,800 crore assets, Cyrus Pallonji Mistry at 8th spot with a wealth of Rs 76,800 crore, Shapoor Pallonji at 9th position with a net worth of Rs 76,800 crore and Dilip Shanghvi at 10th slot with Rs 71,500-crore wealth.
$47.6 bn capital invested across 921 deals in India in 2020, despite pandemic.
Start-ups that did not have a business model and, hence, could not grow or attract new funding, are shutting shop.
The ban in India would hit Chinese internet companies that were making headway in the world's fastest-growing mobile market.
As 8 new startups join the 2018 club, average time taken to be a $1 billion firm now stands at 5-7 years, next only to China, says a Nasscom report
Kapiva's plans to introduce allopathy-like doses of ayurvedic remedies for the millennial consumer finds traction.