OYO’s parent Oravel Stays Ltd is reportedly planning to rope in Sumer Juneja, managing partner and head of EMEA & India Investing at SoftBank Vision Fund, as a non-executive director on its board
The appointment is subject to shareholders' approval to be sought at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM)
Sumer will join Oravel Stays' Board as a nominee director of Softbank
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Hospitality major OYO’s parent Oravel Stays Ltd is reportedly planning to rope in Sumer Juneja, managing partner and head of EMEA & India Investing at SoftBank Vision Fund, as a non-executive director on its board.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Juneja has been with SoftBank for nearly six years. Prior to that, he served as a board member of the foodtech company Swiggy for about four years. Juneja has also worked with Norwest Venture Partners and Goldman Sachs.
As per PTI’s report, the appointment is subject to shareholders’ approval to be sought at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM).
Inc42 has reached out to OYO on the development. The story will be updated based on the response.
Sumer will join Oravel Stays’ Board as a nominee director of Softbank, the report said. Also, the move signals SoftBank’s bullish stance on OYO, in light of the company turning profitable, sources were quoted as saying in the report.
OYO reported its first full year of profitability with a net profit of about INR 100 Cr in FY24, founder and CEO Ritesh Agarwal claimed. Taking to social media platform X, he said OYO logged its eighth straight quarter of positive EBITDA in Q4 FY24.
Agarwal added that the SoftBank-backed startup’s cash reserves stood at around INR 1,000 Cr at the end of the year.
Earlier this year, OYO launched a joint venture with lead investor SoftBank under the luxury hotel chain brand ‘Sunday’. These properties have been launched in Jaipur, Vadodara and Chandigarh, with more cities lined up.
“SoftBank is actively supporting OYO and showing renewed interest in its prospects. They want to provide impetus to the company’s growth in international markets,” the report quoted a person familiar with the development.
Meanwhile, the hospitality unicorn is raising $50 Mn (about INR 415 Cr) from financial services provider InCred, to utilise the capital for global expansion, which could also include the acquisition of smaller business in the same sector.
Post the allotment, InCred would own around 2.11% stake in the Ritesh Agarwal-led startup.
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