OYO Home enters Dubai with over 40 homes, aims to touch 200 homes in 6 months

OYO Home is the company's home management service that uses OYO's existing operations, technology, housekeeping, revenue management algorithms and distribution to help users find homes. 

OYO, the new unicorn in town today announced that it has expanded its OYO Home segment in Dubai. The chain has launched in the city with 40 homes, and is now looking to expand its footprint to over 200 homes in the next six months. The company already has over 16 properties under different categories of leased and franchised hotels, homes and living spaces in the UAE since last October. Under the full inventory-and-lease model, OYO currently manages over 1,300 rooms in Dubai, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah.

The Gurugram-based startup is set to touch over 12,000 rooms in the region by 2020. The platform also aims to introduce Home in other regions as well. OYO Home is the company's home management service that uses OYO's existing operations, technology, housekeeping, revenue management algorithms and distribution to help users find homes. The team is currently focussed on locked and unused homes in the top holiday destinations of Dubai.

OYO currently claims to operate over 3,000 fully-managed residential accommodations in India dotted across 25 cities, including Goa, Shimla, Pondicherry, Coorg, Manali, Dehradun, Wayanad, Coorg, Udaipur and Jaipur, among others.

Launched in May 2013, OYO is present in over 350 cities across six countries, including India, China, Malaysia, Nepal, the UK, and the UAE. It is backed by the SoftBank Group, Greenoak Capital, Sequoia India, Lightspeed India, Hero Enterprises, and China Lodging Group.

In a press statement, Kavikrut, Chief Growth Officer, OYO Hotels and Homes, said, "Since launching OYO Home in India, we’ve seen exponential growth and currently operate 3,000+ homes in the country. We’ve introduced unique accommodation experiences to travellers ranging from historic villas dating back to 1900s to theme-based apartments and are now ready to extend OYO Home to Dubai."

In the fiscal ending 2016-17, OYO raised about $260 million in a funding round led by SoftBank, which included participation from existing investors, and new ones like China Lodging Group and Hero Enterprises. The company is also backed by investors like the Lightspeed India, Greenoak Capital, and Sequoia India. Last year, OYO entered the unicorn club with a funding of $1 billion led by Softbank. 

According to OYO’s RoC filings, its revenue rose over four times from around Rs 32 crore in 2015-16 to Rs 140 crore in 2016-17. Losses narrowed for the financial year ended March 2017 to Rs 325 crore from Rs 496 crore in the previous year. 

 Elaborating on the concept of OYO Home, Kavikrut said, “What we are attempting with OYO Home guarantees unique experience for our guests and higher yields for homeowners. There is significant market opportunity especially as people have invested in second homes in top holiday destinations across the UAE. GCC and international travellers today are open to choosing the comforts of a fully managed holiday home, for short stays.’’