Exclusive: Oyo launches operations in London

Oyo seems to have been prioritising global expansion and sticking to its plans and future projections. After setting up operations in Dubai and China, the SoftBank-backed company has begun operation in London. Entrackr has recently come across and verified (independently) an Oyo Townhouse property in London.

The Gurugram-based company has been offering bookings in Sussex Gardens, Paddington, London (see picture and video). While we haven’t found an option to book a hotel at the aforementioned property via app or website, our sources hint pricing in the range of Rs 6,500 to 8,000.

A month ago, Oyo had expressed its aspirations to expand into Europe (starting with London). It had established a presence in Dubai and China in May 2018. With operations in London, the company has become second indigenous startup to enter London.

[video width="480" height="466" mp4="https://entrackr.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/oyo_townhouse_london.mp4"][/video]

Five years ago, foodtech Unicorn Zomato began offering restaurant directory in London.

This is the sixth overseas market for the Ritesh Agarwal-led company. Besides UK, Dubai, and  China, Oyo has operations in Malaysia, Nepal, and Thailand.

After raising $250 million from SoftBank and Hero Enterprise in September last year, three months later it had pivoted from aggregation to a pure-play franchise model in December 2017.

Presently, the company claims to operate 8,500 hotels and 70,000 rooms in more than 230 cities in India. So far, it has raked in about $442 million risk capital from likes of Softbank, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed Venture and Hero Enterprise amongst others.

Besides Oyo, another SoftBank funded ride-hailing Unicorn Ola has been contemplating to enter European markets soon. It already had begun a pilot in Manchester (UK) and sizeable presence in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Australia.

Also Read: Exclusive: After Dubai, Oyo kicks-off operations in China

Payments major Paytm and a slew of companies such as Practo, CarDekho, and Droom are other notable startups which have expanded beyond India. Diversifying into complementary vertical, Oyo recently launched co-living and event management verticals in the domestic market.

Oyo Living offers services alike Nestaway across Delhi (NCR), Bengaluru and Pune while Auto Party By Oyo covers full stack wedding or party planning services including decoration, DJ, cocktail parties amongst several others in six Indian cities.

Given that Oyo has turned aggressive with expansion plan in offshore markets, it would be exciting to see how company's ambitious plans in the west and other Asian, as well as the Middle East countries, pan out.