Airbnb confirms $150M-$200M investment in India's OYO

1 April 2019 5:14 AM GMT

Airbnb is continuing to widen its focus beyond ?unconventional? hotels as it gets ready for a much-anticipated IPO. Following its acquisition of HotelTonight last month, the company has picked today (April Fool?s Day) to confirm that it invested in India?s OYO ? a startup that manages budget hotels and other stays. The deal has been [?]

Following its acquisition of HotelTonight last month, the company has picked today (April Fool's Day) to confirm that it invested in India's OYO - a startup that manages budget hotels and other stays.
The deal has been rumored for a couple of months and it is additional to OYO's (then) $1 billion Series E round which was led by SoftBank's Vision and included participation from ride-hailing duo Grab of Southeast Asia and China's Didi Chuxing.
The deal, announced last September, also included Lightspeed, Sequoia and Greenoaks Capital and it valued OYO at around $5 billion.
OYO and Airbnb had previously been rivals of sorts, but OYO has pivoted towards hospitality services - including logistics and management - rather than simply aggregating budget hotels.
In that light, the companies are exploring opportunities to collaborate which could see OYO properties - in this case more likely villas and Airbnb-like properties - listed on Airbnb's service.