Hospitality unicorn OYO reshuffles its top management ahead of IPO

Hospitality unicorn Oyo made major changes in responsibilities undertaken by some of its leaders, most of whom have served for over six years in the nine-year-old company.

Sources aware of the development told YourStory that Abhinav Sinha, current Global COO, who led the product charter earlier, will take up the integrated role of Chief Product and Technology Officer.

Sinha, who has been with OYO since 2014, will take over the role from current CTO Ankit Mathuria, who was appointed in 2021 and will exit the company in June 2023.

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Inc42 was the first to report this development.

Further, Global Chief Merchant Officer Anuj Tejpal, with a tenure of over ten years, will be the operational charge of India merchant teams while also leading mid-institution investor relations for the company. Meanwhile, the company CFO, Abhishek Gupta, will focus on large institutional investors.

Tejpal joined the company when it was called Oravel and led its re-invention to OYO. He has taken on multiple responsibilities, including the launch of OYO Townhouse, the flagship premium mid-market hotel chain brand.

Recently elevated to the role of Chief Service Officer, Shreerang Godbole is given the additional charge of the data science division. He will continue to sustainably improve and scale customer experience by incorporating tech and AI in OYO's customer experience initiatives.

Having been at OYO since 2014, Godbole also heads the Super OYO initiative, the strategic programme that recognises hotels which provide the most consistent and high-quality customer experience.

CEO-International at OYO, Gautam Swaroop, will take over the company's allied businesses, which include Weddingz. This is Swaroop's third key role since joining the company in 2018. He has been instrumental in leading the charge in some of OYO’s growing international markets, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Latin America.

Mandar Vaidya will also take charge of the company’s premium hotel asset portfolio. While another senior leader, Maninder Gulati, will shift from a business operations role to a mentorship one, continuing to work closely with the OYO leadership team in key business endeavours.

Other leaders in OYO’s management committee will continue to lead as per their current roles and responsibilities.

YourStory reached out to OYO to verify the development. The company declined to comment.

The move comes ahead of OYO refiling its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with market regulator the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for its initial public offering (IPO).

Last month, SEBI had asked the travel-tech firm to refile its draft IPO papers with certain updates under sections, including Risk Factors, KPIs, Outstanding Litigations, and Basis for Offer, after OYO submitted its financial results for the first half of FY23 by filing an addendum.