SoftBank-backed OYO's top executives step down ahead of IPO

Just months before it is due to be listed on the stock exchange, two senior executives at OYO—OYO India CEO Ankit Gupta and OYO Europe head Mandar Vaidya—have left the travel tech company.

Gupta had been with the hospitality unicorn since 2019, and had only been CEO of its India operations for about a year before his exit in March this year. Earlier, he was the CEO of the franchise and frontier business at OYO.

Vaidya also joined OYO's parent Oravel Stays in 2019. He was CXO for South Asia and the Middle East before taking over as head of European operations in April 2021.

The Gurugram-based company has confirmed their departures, stating that both exits happened over six months ago.

"We are proud of their achievements at OYO and are thankful for their leadership. Both roles were already transitioned six months ago to Varun Jain, as COO India, and, Gautam Swaroop, as CEO OYO Vacation Homes, respectively," said an OYO spokesperson.

After the exit, Ankit is looking at starting his own startup, a source has informed YourStory.

Both had worked at the management consulting firm, McKinsey & Company, before joining OYO in 2019.

The Arc was the first to report this development.

The news coincides with OYO's re-submission of its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) under the recently introduced advance filing procedure.

The Ritesh Agarwal-led company filed for public listing in October 2021, aiming to raise up to $1.6 billion at a $12 billion valuation. However, the plan has been postponed and the target raise has been reduced to $600 million for a November listing.

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In February, OYO reshuffled its top deck, asking top executives to take on more internal roles. Abhinav Sinha, previously global COO and head of product, has been made head of product and technology after OYO combined the two departments. Anuj Tejpal, who was Global Chief Merchant Officer, was also asked to lead the Indian merchant team.

In addition to his role as Chief Service Officer, Shreerang Godbole has been asked to take on additional responsibilities and lead the data science division. Furthermore, Gautam Swaroop, CEO of international business at OYO, is said to have been given the responsibility to run Weddingz, the wedding organisation division.

The company's CTO Ankit Mathuria also quit in June this year.

Founded in 2015 by Agarwal, OYO reached a peak valuation of $10 billion in June 2019 when the founder bought $2 billion worth of the company’s shares from Sequoia and Lightspeed Venture Partners, borrowing the sum from Japanese lenders in his personal capacity.

As a result of the purchase, Agarwal held a 33% stake in the company. The company last raised $5 million in a Series F round from Microsoft in September 2021.