Exclusive: OYO spreads wings in Europe, launching in Germany

OYO has been on a global expansion spree, and it doesn’t want to waste any time in increasing its presence across Europe. After UK, Spain, and Portugal, the SoftBank-backed firm is hiring aggressively to set up operations in multiple cities of Germany including Munich, Hamburg, Nuremberg, Hannover, and Cologne.

“The company already has hired for key positions such as Transformation managers as well as business development function in a few of the above cities,” said a source who is aware with the hiring plan. It’s set to accept booking in these cities by the end of next month - i.e; February.

Entrackr has verified about job openings across Germany independently through job descriptions posted by the company over LinkedIn and its blog with a detailed job description.

A query sent to OYO did not elicit any response till the publication of this post.

Expansion in Germany comes for OYO after a week of setting up operations in the Philippines. With this, the firm has now a presence in over 10 countries. Earlier this month, it hired Andrew Verbitsky who previously served Airbnb and Delivery Hero to head European market.

Sources indicate that Verbitsky has been in Munich for setting up operations in aforementioned cities. Recently, the Gurugram-based company also set up OYO Homes in Dubai.

Coming back to home turf, OYO has been in advance talks with Innov8 for acquisition. Last week, Entrackr exclusively reported about the development that will pave its entry into co-working space.

This is the fourth acquisition for the SoftBank-backed company. Previously, it acquired Weddingz, AblePlus and Novascotia Boutique Homes (now known as SilverKey). With expansion in Germany, OYO will have coverage in four European countries including UK, Portugal, and Spain.

In September last year, OYO had scooped up $800 million round from SoftBank for comprehensive expansion in India and outside, especially China. Two months later, it raised a $103 million strategic capital from Singapore-based ride-hailing major Grab.

It also made a high profile hiring by appointing former IndiGo President Aditya Ghosh as the CEO for India and South Asia.