Indian hospitality unicorn Oyo’s Japanese arm has launched operations in over 100 hotels across the East Asian nation in a joint venture with majority investor SoftBank Group Corp, as the company looks for a path to profitability.
Softbank has been struggling to raise money for a second investment fund after the failed public offering of office-rental company WeWork - one of its marquee investments - and due to questions about the profitability of others such as Oyo and taxi aggregator Uber.
The Japanese tech giant has already invested nearly USD 1 billion in Oyo.
The SoftBank-Oyo partnership, Oyo Hotels Japan, opened hotels in over 50 Japanese cities, including Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, Oyo said in a statement on Thursday.
It was not immediately known how much either of the companies have invested in the partnership, but a person aware of the development said SoftBank and its Vision Fund will have a 50 per cent share in the venture.
