Hotels & Homes is planning to enter the , and co-working segments to expand its offering in the country. The SoftBank-backed plans to take up 100,000 beds across major cities by the end of 2019. The firm currently operates 13,000 beds in select cities like Delhi-NCR, Pune and Bengaluru. "We want to capture majority of the co-living and student housing market in the country. We are looking at stable rental assets for yield," said Rohit Kapoor CEO (new release estate business), . "Co-living and student housing will be under the OYO Life brand," he told ET. The roll out of the co-living and student housing business will also see OYO Life entering the metros with each segment having a maximum of 250 beds, depending on the demographics. "Globally, the world's accommodation market stands at 160 million rooms and is a $3.6 trillion opportunity and growing. With us capturing less than 1% of the larger pie, we are just scratching the surface," said Kapoor. Separately, the company is in talks to buy out co-working operator Innov8. ET has reported in January that the firm is looking at an all-cash deal. The acquisition will witness OYO foray into the co-working space. Kapoor, however refused to comment on the transaction. Earlier this year, the firm announced it would invest 1,400 crore for the India and South Asia business, as part of its effort to double its expansion plan across business segments. Globally, the firm operates over 18,000 franchised and leased hotels and over 515,000 rooms. OYO, founded by Ritesh Agarwal, has so far raised an estimated $1.16 billion and recently closed a $100 million funding round from ride-hailing major Grab, in the latest tranche of its ongoing $1-billion financing round. The chain has been expanding rapidly overseas, including in China, and named seasoned aviation executive Aditya Ghosh as its first CEO for India and South Asia in November.
Oyo Hotel & Homes is entering the student housing and co-living sector. The company will be opening a new campus in Lagos on June 1, 2018, with an initial investment of about US$100 million. OYO owns three Indian co-workspace operators.