Didi Chuxing, a ride-hailing company based out of China, has invested an impressive $100 million in Oyo Hotels & Homes, a hospitality chain in India. This brings the value of Oyo to around $5 billion.
This brings to a close Oyo’s $1 billion financing round led by existing backer SoftBank Vision Fund, which has pumped $800 million into the company.
The Didi investment comes a little over two months after Singapore-headquartered transportation major Grab infused the same amount in the Gurgaon-based startup.
People familiar with the deal said that Beijing-headquartered Didi’s investment is likely to be channeled into Oyo’s fast-growing China business — Oyo Jiudian — a geography that the company has begun referring to as its second home market. A fair chunk of the investment will also come into Oyo's India operations, they said. A representative for Oyo confirmed to ET about the official closure of the $1-billion round.
Relationship Dates Back to 2017
“$900 million was closed back in the quarter ended December 2018 and we have also received the balance $100 million as disclosed in the RoC filings. We do not have any further comments,” the spokesperson said. Didi Chuxing did not reply to recent queries until press time. JPMorgan acted as the financial advisor to the transaction.
The relationship between the two companies dates back to 2017 when Oyo had used the ride-hailing platform to announce its foray into the world’s second-largest economy. At that time, the tagline read, ‘Ride comfortably with Didi, Stay comfortably with Oyo.’
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