Further expansion for OYO in China as investors commit to $1B in funding

OYO, the South Asia hospitality company, has raised $800 million via SoftBank Vision Fund.

Existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia and Greenoaks Capital also participated in the round.

OYO says it has a commitment for an additional $200 million, bringing the round to $1 billion.

In a statement, founder and CEO Ritesh Agarwal says the company will focus on organic and inorganic growth as well as explore new business areas. It has already begun expanding its presence in new segments through OYO Home, OYO Townhouse and Palette Resorts by OYO.

He adds that OYO is now present in India, China and Malaysia, while most recently it announced its expansion into the United Kingdom. It plans to invest $40 million in the country and have more than 5000 rooms by 2020.

Funding will go towards scaling the business in these countries more rapidly as well as investment in technology.

OYO also plans to invest about $600 million of the funds to strengthening its presence in China where it claims to have more than 87,000 rooms in 171 cities.

In a recent interview, Agarwal talked of using technology to fix the socio-economic problem of the lack of “quality living space.”

The company launched in 2013 and now claims to have more than 10,000 franchised or leased properties in the chain.

Prior to this latest round the company had raised about $450 million.