Oyo chief confident of weathering pandemic despite 50% revenue drop

Latest $1bn fundraising from SoftBank will last longer than 3 years, Agarwal says

Oyo Hotels and Homes has a war chest of $1 billion and does not need to raise funds in the near term despite the coronavirus outbreak. © AP

KEN KOYANAGI, Nikkei Asian Review editor-at-large

June 18, 2020 21:16 JST

TOKYO --- The founder of Oyo Hotels and Homes, one of India's fastest-growing startups, is confident that the budget hotel chain can weather the COVID-19 crisis, citing a $1 billion war chest that will last "three years plus," Ritesh Agarwal said Thursday.

Speaking at an online conference hosted by DealStreetAsia, the 26-year-old entrepreneur and CEO referred to funds raised late last year from Japan's SoftBank Group that would keep the company going in the short term.