Ritesh Agarwal can’t save OYO

Eight years and upwards of Rs 20,000 crore in capital later, Ritesh Agarwal and SoftBank Vision Fund have brought the carcass of their ambitions to the public markets.

Take a deep breath and pay close attention to this report card.

OYO was co-founded by Ritesh Agarwal in May 2013. Since then the company has raised about Rs 16,000 crore in venture capital and Rs 5,000 crore or thereabouts in debt. That’s a total capital raise of over Rs 20,000 crore. 

For the 12 months ended 31 March 2021, the latest full fiscal year for which financials are available, the company recorded operating income of Rs 3,962 crore, of which only Rs 932 crore came from India. The company recorded a total loss of Rs 3,944 crore. In the …

Author

Ashish K. Mishra

Ashish is the editor-in-chief of The Morning Context. One of the best-known business feature writers in India, he was selected for Germany’s Robert Bosch Stiftung Fellowship in 2012 and received the Mumbai Press Club RedInk certificate of recognition in 2015 for his story “Inside the Network 18 takeover”. Before joining The Morning Context, Ashish co-founded The Ken, where he was managing editor. His previous writing stints include Mint, Forbes India and The Economic Times.

Editor-in-chief

ashish@mailtmc.com

London