Ritesh Agarwal is an Indian entrepreneur and the founder of one of the world’s fastest-growing hotel chains, OYO Rooms. His story is one of perseverance, innovation, and determination.
Ritesh Agarwal was born on November 16, 1993 in Bissam Cuttack, Odisha, India to a Marathi family and raised in Titilagarh. Ritesh comes from a family that used to run a small shop in Rayagada, a city in southern Odisha, and he attended Sacred Heart School in Rayagada.
Ritesh was a tech nerd from a young age, having begun coding at the age of ten. Another of his interests was travelling around the world.
Ritesh travelled across India at the age of 17 and stayed in over 100 bed and breakfasts, guest houses, and hotels before realising there was a severe lack of affordable and high-quality budget hotels.
Agarwal dropped out of college in 2013 to focus full-time on his startup, and he quickly realized that there was a huge opportunity in the Indian hospitality industry. Oravel Stays was sold to OYO Rooms, a budget hotel aggregator that standardized and upgraded small, independent hotels to make them more appealing to customers.
OYO Rooms opened its first hotel in 2014, and by 2015, it had raised $24 million in funding from investors such as Softbank and Greenoaks Capital. By 2019, OYO Rooms had over 18,000 franchised or leased hotels in 500 cities across ten countries, making it the world’s third-largest hotel chain.
However, Agarwal’s journey has not been without difficulties. OYO Rooms suffered a major setback in 2017 when the Indian government cracked down on hotels that did not have proper licences, affecting many of OYO’s partners. Agarwal responded by assembling a legal team to assist partners in obtaining the necessary licences, and he also collaborated closely with the government to ensure compliance.
Agarwal has continued to expand OYO Rooms into new markets in recent years, including Southeast Asia, Europe, and the United States. In addition, he has launched new business lines such as OYO Homes, which provides short-term rental apartments, and OYO Townhouse, a mid-market hotel brand.
The concept of OYO, many people are unaware that “OYO” stands for On Your Own. Ritesh then modernized his old business model and transformed it into a much better one, which is now known as OYO hotels. They begin by offering affordable rooms with standard amenities in over 1000 hotels across India, none of which are owned by OYO. Ritesh Agarwal became a billionaire at the age of 23 as a result of this concept.
OYO founder Ritesh Agarwal recently got married to Geetansha Sood at a five star hotel in Delhi.
Awards & Recognitions
Forbes Tycoons
EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2018 – Services.
CNBC’s Young Turk of the Year (2019)
The Open Republic Achievers Awards – Business New Age category (2019)
StartAP Entrepreneur of the Year Award (2018)
Dataquest IT Person of the Year (2018)
Ritesh Agarwal is now one of India’s most successful young entrepreneurs, with a fortune of more than $1.5 billion. His journey exemplifies the power of entrepreneurship and innovation, and he continues to motivate a new generation of Indian entrepreneurs.
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