IPO-bound Oyo seeks to rename parent firm to pursue premiumisation

Oyo founder Ritesh Agarwal has invited name suggestions for its parent firm Oravel Stays, in a strategic move as the global travel tech platform prepares to launch its IPO and looks to have more premium segment offerings.

There is a high possibility that the name chosen through the exercise may end up being the name of the premium hotels app that Oyo has been working to launch in the near future, people familiar with the strategy told PTI.

Agarwal took to social media platforms to seek name suggestions to help craft a "new identity".


"We're renaming the corporate brand behind it all. Not the hotel chain, not a consumer product -- but the parent company powering a global ecosystem of urban innovation and modern living. We believe it's time the world had a new kind of global brand -- born in India, but built for the world," the Oyo founder said in the post on Thursday.

Agarwal shared that it should be a bold, one-word corporate name, global in feel, not tied to one culture or language, tech-forward, sharp, but also human and memorable, and broad enough to grow beyond hospitality, preferably with a .com domain available.

He offered a prize of Rs 3 lakh to the winner along with a chance to meet him.

PTI had reported that Oyo has arranged for five investment banks to give a crucial presentation to its key shareholder SoftBank in June at the latter's London office on Grosvenor Street, that could determine the company's path to public listing, as it eyes launching an IPO in the last quarter of the current fiscal.

"Oyo is actively exploring launching a separate app for its premium hotels and mid-market to premium company-serviced hotels as the segment has seen exponential growth across India as well as its global markets. There is a very high possibility that the name being selected may end up being the name of the premium hotels app that Oyo has been working to launch in near future," said people familiar with the matter.