Org Chart: The People With Power At IPO-Bound OYO

Gurugram-based hospitality unicorn Oravel Stays which operates OYO will be raising INR 8430 Cr ($1.2 Bn) through an initial public offering. 

OYO’s Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) stated that the startup will issue fresh shares worth INR 7,000 Cr and an offer-for-sale — offloading of shares through the sale of shares from existing investors — worth INR 1,430 Cr.

OYO will be the fourth Indian travel and hospitality startup heading for an IPO. While EaseMyTrip got listed earlier this year, ixigo and RateGain have filed the DRHP.

The hospitality unicorn claims to have 159 trademark registrations in India which include, OYO Hotels, OYO Inns, OYO Rooms, StudioStays, OYO Townhouse, Autoparty, Weddingz.in, OYO Money, SilverKey, Workflow & PowerStation by OYO, OYO Homes, OYO BumbleWhammy and OYO WokeSoap.

According to its DRHP, 29% of the proceeds of the funds to repay part of the borrowing availed by its subsidiaries.

Founded in 2013 by Ritesh Aggarwal, the hospitality unicorn is backed by marquee investors such as Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank, NASDAQ-listed Airbnb, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Innoven Capital, among others. It has raised $4.1 Bn from 26 investors across 19 rounds, to date. 

The company said it has 5,130 employees worldwide, with over 3,600 in India alone.

Here is a look at the Key Managerial Personnel (KMP) leading OYO as it ventures into the public market:

Ritesh Agarwal, Founder and Chairman

Ritesh Agarwal, the second youngest billionaire in India, is the founder and chairman at the hospitality unicorn. According to the terms of his employment, Agarwal is entitled to a gross remuneration, including perquisites from Oravel Stays is INR 1.06 Cr.

Further, from January 2021, his salary at OYO Singapore, as global CEO since 2019, was raised to INR 4.45 Cr, taking his annual remuneration to INR 55.1 Cr, but since the DRHP states that Oravel has not paid any remuneration from its cheque book, Agarwal, in addition to perquisites for subsistence such as accommodation, provision for vehicles, domestic help and others, was paid INR 1.63 Cr in FY21.

Abhishek Gupta, Chief Financial Officer

Abhishek Gupta joined OYO as the company’s CFO in 2015. Prior to this, he spent over two years at Philips India as CFO for the Home Lighting business division. Gupta has also worked with General Electric for over 9 years in several in-house segments across various financial roles.

A Chartered Accountant and an MBA from the Indian School of Business, Gupta was also a part of the Executive Management Program from Harvard University’s Division of Continuing Education. Until August 1, 2021, Gupta was based overseas, associated with OYO Hotels, Inc and took home a remuneration of INR 7.14 Cr in FY21.

Ankit Mathuria, Chief Technology Officer

Ankit Mathuria joined the hospitality startup in February 2021 as the CTO with OYO Technology & Hospitality FZ LLC. With an illustrative career of over 15 years in the technology field, Mathuria spent the last seven years at Amazon in multiple businesses, with the last one year as CTO for Souq — an Amazon subsidiary — in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

He has also worked with IBM and the Royal Bank of Scotland. For FY21, Mathuria, who is currently based out of Seattle, Washington, took home INR 1.19 Cr.

Dinesh Ramamurthi, Chief Human Resources Officer

Dinesh Ramamurthi is the CHRO of OYO since 2016 has been responsible for driving learning, performance management and creating a positive work culture. An alumnus of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences with a degree in PM & IR, Ramamurthi has worked with ITC, Hewitt Associates, India, Bharti Airtel. Right before OYO, Dinesh was leading Compensation & Benefits in the APAC region for The Coca-Cola Company. 

Ramamurthi received compensation of INR 1.05 Cr. He also holds a 4.45% stake in the company (as Trustee of Oravel Employee Welfare Trust).

Abhinav Sinha, Manager, Global Chief Operating Officer and Chief Product Officer

Abhinav Sinha has been with the company since 2014, looking after operations at OYO as COO. He was later promoted as the Global COO and CPO in March 2021. He is also a Partner at OYO USA, driving the company’s growth in the region.

A chemical engineer from IIT Kharagpur and an MBA from Harvard, Sinha has more than a decade of experience working with product and services companies. Before OYO, he was a Principal with Boston Consulting Group in Dallas, US. Until April 2021, Sinha was based overseas, talking home INR 4.59 Cr in FY21.

Rakesh Kumar Prushti, General Counsel

Joined in 2018, Rakesh Prushti has been leading high stake projects, corporate governance initiatives and best practices at OYO. Previously, Prushti has spent over 22 years in companies from diverse sectors including French retail giant – Carrefour, NIIT Technologies, Global Vantedge (now Aegis), Cottage Industries Exposition and most recently, Max Healthcare.

He received a total remuneration of INR 1.45 Cr.

Vimal Chawla, Vice President – Legal, Company Secretary and Compliance Officer

Vimal Chawla, a CS from the Indian Institute of Companies Secretary, has been a KMP of OYO since October 2019 where he was also given the responsibilities of the Company Secretary of OYO in September 2020.

Prior to OYO held the designation of associate vice president at One97 Communications Limited, vice president – legal & FCC with Canara, HSBC, Oriental Bank of Commerce and LIC. In FY21, he received total compensation of INR 61 Lakh from the hospitality startup.