OYO was facing a bit of loss because of the pandemic. But a piece of happy news may be waiting for them. Reports claim that Microsoft is making plans to invest in this Indian budget hotel chain.
Microsoft is reportedly close to investing in OYO, with a valuation of $9 billion for the Indian startup. More details of the investment are not yet out. In 2019, OYO’s valuation had gone up to $10 billion but in the recent quarters, it was reduced to almost $3 billion.
The investment may also help OYO in using Microsoft’s cloud services. Both the companies have declined to talk about the investments.
OYO continues to be a valuable startup, even though it has faced some criticisms because of some issues like its relationship with many hotel owners. It has also expanded its business to countries in Southeast Asia, Europe, and the US. It was when the startup started showing significant improvements, that the pandemic came. Therefore, for the last few quarters, it had produced only slow growth rates and had to lay off many of its employees.
OYO founder and chief executive Ritesh Agarwal had said that the pandemic has brought down their years of efforts in few days by over 60%. The company recently raised $660 million and the funds were used to pay off its debt.
