Login

Post on Medial

Medial Startup Trivia

Stealth • 3m

A Brief Timeline: Ritesh Agarwal Picture Ritesh Agarwal, born in 1993 in Odisha, India. At just 13, he's already hustling, selling SIM cards and making his first entrepreneurial strides. By 16, he's earned enough to buy his first computer for ₹50,000 ($600). At 17, in 2010, Ritesh takes a leap of faith to Delhi with barely ₹8,000 ($100) in his pocket. Imagine him in a tiny 100 sq. ft. apartment, sharing space with 5 others, often sleeping on the floor. He's living on a shoestring budget of ₹300 ($4) per day. Fast forward to 2013. Ritesh, now 19, launches Oravel Stays with an initial investment of ₹30 lakh ($40,000). Picture him pitching to skeptical hotel owners, aiming to onboard just 10 properties in the first month. By 2014, OYO Rooms is born. Ritesh, at 21, becomes the first Indian to win the Thiel Fellowship, receiving $100,000. The company raises its first major funding of $1 million. Ritesh in 2015, at 22, as OYO secures a massive $100 million in funding. The company goes from 30 hotels in 1 city to over 1,000 hotels across 100 cities in just 2 years. By 2017, at 24, Ritesh is overseeing OYO's expansion to Malaysia, its first international market. The company's valuation soars to $850 million. 2018 sees OYO becoming a unicorn, valued at $5 billion. Ritesh, at 25, buys back $1.5 billion worth of shares from early investors. Then comes 2020 and the pandemic. OYO's valuation drops from $10 billion to $8 billion. Ritesh, now 27, faces the tough decision of laying off 5,000 employees globally and furloughing thousands more. Through it all, Ritesh remains that same ambitious boy from Odisha. By 2022, at 29, he's steered OYO to operate over 157,000 storefronts across 35 countries. His journey from a small town to building a company once valued at $10 billion (currently $2.4 Billion) exemplifies the potential of young Indian entrepreneurs.

5 replies55 likes
7
Replies (5)

More like this

Recommendations from Medial

Image Description
Image Description

Mohammed Zaid

Stealth • 2d

Oyo CEO Ritesh Agarwal is set to increase his stake in the company from 30% to 32% by investing another ₹550 crore, reports said. Agarwal will buy over 12.9 crore shares at 42.60 apiece and the investment will value Oyo at 32,000 crore, reports added

See More
3 replies1 like

Deepasnhu Chail

Stealth • 6m

OYO Rooms In the early days, OYO's founder Ritesh Agarwal went door-to-door convincing budget hotel owners to join their network without any upfront investment from OYO. With limited funds, the team operated ultra-lean - reusing office supplies and

See More
0 replies4 likes
Image Description
Image Description

Vrishank Raj

Stealth • 3m

Oyo's Secret co-founder? We all know Ritesh Agarwal as the founder and the face of Oyo, but how many of you know that Oyo, in its initial days used to have a co-founder. When Ritesh was 18, and he was looking to raise funds for his startup, Ventu

See More
23 replies46 likes
16

Tushar Aher Patil

Stealth • 27d

Ritesh Agarwal-led hospitality giant OYO recorded a net profit of Rs 158 crore and revenue of Rs 1,578 crore in Q2 FY25, PTI reported. This marks a significant turnaround, as the company had posted a net loss of Rs 50 crore during the same period la

See More
0 replies4 likes

Rahul Gupta

Stealth • 2m

OpenAI in talks to raise funding that would value it at more than $100 billion.

0 replies2 likes
Image Description
Image Description

The next billionaire

Stealth • 26d

Sajith Pai recently posted TIL that Doug Leone was v unhappy w Masa for 'overfunding' Oyo, and giving their voting rights to Ritesh Agarwal. The culture clash is real: Doug Leone: "Oyo doesn't need the money" Masa: "We will give him so much mon

See More
14 replies41 likes
18
Anonymous
Image Description
Image Description

Anonymous

Stealth • 6m

Oyo is raising funds at $2 billion valuation now (it is a drop of 80% from $10 billion). Founder is on Shark Tank, the business has tanked, but he has made his money. Their bad service is well known. Your thoughts?

25 replies16 likes
3
Image Description
Image Description

Vaibhav Babruwan Shingde

Stealth • 6m

Interesting News From OYO 🤔🤯 • India’s Oyo, once valued at $10B, seeks new funding at 70% discount. • Oyo, an Indian startup, seeks new funding at a $3 billion valuation, down from $10 billion. • Negotiating with investors like Malaysia's Khazan

See More
10 replies8 likes
2
Image Description

Aakash kashyap

Stealth • 1m

1. What was the first startup to achieve a valuation of $100 billion, and in what year did it reach this milestone? ❗🚀❗

2 replies2 likes
Image Description
Image Description

PRATHAM

 • 

Medial • 1m

Watch the things that Uday Kotak's generation had but today's 21yo don't by Ritesh Agrawal - CEO of OYO

8 replies18 likes
2

Download the medial app to read full posts, comements and news.