Oyo Founder Ritesh Agarwal To Buyback Stake Worth $2 Billion

Hospitality start-up Oyo Founder Ritesh Agarwal raised his stake in the company with a $2 billion buyback, in a move that will bring his ownership closer to biggest investor SoftBank Corp.

The fresh investment round will take Mr Agarwal's stake to around 30 per cent from 10 per cent, a source familiar with the development said.

Japan's SoftBank owns around 45 per cent in the company.

As part of these transactions, current investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sequoia India are selling portions of their holdings in OYO to help founder and CEO Ritesh Agarwal increase his stake, Oyo said in a statement.

Mr Agarwal will fund the buyback through institutional lenders and financial partners, the source said, adding that the round took the company's valuation to $10 billion.

Oyo did not give details on how Mr Agarwal will fund the deal or on his stakeholding.