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Business Standard
29-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Five banks set to present OYO's IPO plans to SoftBank in London next month
Global travel-tech unicorn OYO has arranged for five investment banks to meet its key shareholder SoftBank in June, in a crucial presentation that could determine the company's path to public listing, sources said. The banks include Citi, Goldman Sachs and Jefferies from the global banking consortium, alongside ICICI Securities and Axis Capital representing Indian financial institutions. SoftBank, which remains one of OYO's largest shareholders, is interested in understanding the key positioning strategies, expected valuation metrics and anticipated investor appetite for the offering. The high-stake meeting is scheduled to take place at SoftBank's London office on Grosvenor Street, where the banks will present their IPO strategies to SoftBank's Sumer Juneja. OYO founder Ritesh Agarwal and his senior leadership team will also participate in the discussions, sources close to the development told PTI. The Japanese conglomerate's view is considered important for the IPO's timing, given its significant stake in the hospitality startup. "SoftBank is positive on their portfolio companies such as OYO which have shown strong performance. For OYO, the raising of primary issuance will lead to a sharp increase in its Earnings per Share by using the proceeds to prepay some of its debt," shared a person close to the development. OYO is targeting a share dilution of 10 per cent in the proposed public offering, through a combination of primary and secondary components to ensure lowest possible dilution, since the company is already generating cash, the person added. According to sources, SoftBank has been encouraging OYO since the last few months to start working actively towards a public listing, since the company has been exceeding the agreed financial milestones such as EBITDA and Gross Bookings growth. The London meeting comes as OYO has intensified its thinking for an IPO over the past month, transitioning from informal discussions to active pitch presentations with major banking institutions. PTI had reported this week that the company is considering filing its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) between August and September this year. The timing of the filing remains flexible, with OYO weighing whether to proceed with FY25 financial results or wait for H1 FY26 results to strengthen its market position. The company is targeting an IPO launch in the last quarter of the current financial year, positioning itself to capitalise on improved market sentiment and its own operational turnaround. The renewed IPO push comes after OYO had previously filed and refiled its draft papers with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in 2021, seeking to raise Rs 8,430 crore through a public offering. The company withdrew those papers in 2024. In the recent past, OYO has streamlined its global operations while strengthening its presence in key markets, including India, the US, Europe and Southeast Asia. Sources indicated that the company's improved financial metrics and operational efficiency have renewed investor confidence, prompting the fresh attempt at going public.
Mint
29-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
Five banks set to present OYO's IPO plans to SoftBank in London next month
New Delhi, May 29 (PTI) Global travel-tech unicorn OYO has arranged for five investment banks to meet its key shareholder SoftBank in June, in a crucial presentation that could determine the company's path to public listing, sources said. The banks include Citi, Goldman Sachs and Jefferies from the global banking consortium, alongside ICICI Securities and Axis Capital representing Indian financial institutions. SoftBank, which remains one of OYO's largest shareholders, is interested in understanding the key positioning strategies, expected valuation metrics and anticipated investor appetite for the offering. The high-stake meeting is scheduled to take place at SoftBank's London office on Grosvenor Street, where the banks will present their IPO strategies to SoftBank's Sumer Juneja. OYO founder Ritesh Agarwal and his senior leadership team will also participate in the discussions, sources close to the development told PTI. The Japanese conglomerate's view is considered important for the IPO's timing, given its significant stake in the hospitality startup. "SoftBank is positive on their portfolio companies such as OYO which have shown strong performance. For OYO, the raising of primary issuance will lead to a sharp increase in its Earnings per Share by using the proceeds to prepay some of its debt," shared a person close to the development. OYO is targeting a share dilution of 10 per cent in the proposed public offering, through a combination of primary and secondary components to ensure lowest possible dilution, since the company is already generating cash, the person added. According to sources, SoftBank has been encouraging OYO since the last few months to start working actively towards a public listing, since the company has been exceeding the agreed financial milestones such as EBITDA and Gross Bookings growth. The London meeting comes as OYO has intensified its thinking for an IPO over the past month, transitioning from informal discussions to active pitch presentations with major banking institutions. PTI had reported this week that the company is considering filing its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) between August and September this year. The timing of the filing remains flexible, with OYO weighing whether to proceed with FY25 financial results or wait for H1 FY26 results to strengthen its market position. The company is targeting an IPO launch in the last quarter of the current financial year, positioning itself to capitalise on improved market sentiment and its own operational turnaround. The renewed IPO push comes after OYO had previously filed and refiled its draft papers with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in 2021, seeking to raise ₹ 8,430 crore through a public offering. The company withdrew those papers in 2024. In the recent past, OYO has streamlined its global operations while strengthening its presence in key markets, including India, the US, Europe and Southeast Asia.
Economic Times
08-05-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
Astrology startup Vaya raises $1.5 million in round led by Accel, Arkam Ventures
Astrology startup Vaya has raised $1.5 million in a funding round co-led by Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Accel and early-stage venture capital firm Arkam round also saw participation from Weekend Fund, along with angel investors including Sumer Juneja, managing partner for India and EMEA at SoftBank, and Sarthak Mishra, partner at SoftBank India. Founded in 2025 by Maahin Puri and Nitesh Kumar Niranjan, the Delhi-based Vedic astrology platform offers personalised consultations via a curated pool of astrologers, supported by an artificial intelligence (AI) engine that decodes complex astrological funds will be used for expanding the core team, strengthening its model, and building a community of Vedic astrology experts, Puri astrology is a large market in India, with the country's spirituality market estimated at around $58 billion, only 1.5–2% of it is online, he said. AnuvayaLabs Technologies, the parent company of Vaya, is 'aiming to build a trusted platform' for the mass-premium segment of the market, Puri told ET. 'The AI is used to take over much of the heavy lifting that astrologers don't need to do—such as understanding different planetary positions, assessing the strengths of planets, and performing calculations—so they can focus on what they know best, which is, human intuition and experience,' he two months ago, Vaya currently has around 11 in-house astrologers, with each session averaging 40 minutes. It follows a pay-per-minute model, offering time bundles that start at five minutes and extend to 20 and 40 aims to serve people in India as well as non-resident Indians (NRIs), with a focus on markets such as the US, followed by Canada.'Currently, our user base is primarily from metro cities—mainly tier 1 cities—with users who mostly speak English and Hindi. Mumbai and Delhi are our largest markets right now, followed by Bengaluru,' Puri to him, Vaya has 30,000-40,000 registered users on its platform.'India's spiritual and astrology services present a massive market opportunity. The horoscope segment alone in India is valued at nearly $10 billion. Yet, the consumer experience remains fragmented, informal, and largely offline,' said Rahul Chandra, managing director of Arkam. 'This is a sector primed for large-scale digital transformation.'Commenting on the investment, Manasi Shah, vice president at Accel, said, 'AI is transforming massive consumer spaces, enabling solutions to serve previously unmet needs. We are looking for the rare founders who blend cutting-edge technology with deep customer insights.' Vaya is competing with the likes of New Delhi-based startup Astrotalk, which last raised $14 million in a financing round led by Elev8 Venture Partners. Earlier, ET reported that devotional platforms are expanding their reach beyond India, targeting the affluent and culturally connected Indian diaspora to boost both sales and subscriber numbers.
