With $100 Mn investment plan Oyo forays into Indonesia

Soon after starting its operation in UAE, Oyo has entered another South Asian country with the foray into Indonesia. This is the seventh overseas expansion for the SoftBank-backed company that operates in Malaysia in SEA region.

It seems Oyo aspiration to become the largest chain globally by 2022 may become reality. The Ritesh Agarwal-led company has recently scooped up around $1 billion funding at whopping $5 billion valuation.

In Indonesia, Oyo will start operations with over 30 exclusive hotels and more than 1,000 rooms in three cities - Jakarta, Surabaya, and Palembang.

Speaking to PTI, Agarwal said that the company will invest over $100 million in the country and planning to expand to the top 35 cities in Indonesia, including Yogyakarta, Bandung, Bali, over the next 15 months.

Further, the company looks forward to creating over 60,000 (direct and indirect) livelihood opportunities in the country.

At present, Gurugram based hotel chain claims to operate 8,500 hotels and over 125,000 rooms in more than 230 cities in India. Earlier this year, it had pivoted from aggregation to a pure-play franchise model. The firm will replicate the same in Indonesia by transforming its hospitality industry through leasing and franchising assets.

Along with impacting competition in budget hotel accommodation space, Oyo would also double down focus, resources, and capital on new products such as Oyo Living, and Auto Party.

The company's competitors in India such as Treebo and Fabhotels are reportedly in talks for a potential merger. While single-handedly competing with Oyo looks difficult in near future, such collaboration may make some dent on its business in India.

Besides the aforementioned countries, Oyo has operations in the UK, China, Nepal and planning to enter the Japanese market where Softbank has a strong foothold.