OYO’s big bet on co-living demand

Hospitality chain OYO on Thursday said that its co-living vertical OYO Life was looking to operate 100,000 beds across cities in India by the end of 2019.

Launched last year in October, the fully managed housing rental service currently operates more than 40,000 beds across nine cities—Delhi, Noida, Gurugram, Pune, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Kolkata. Targeted at millennials and young professionals, it provides long-term fully managed independent residential units inclusive of contracting, furnishing, cleaning, maintenance, and in-stay services.

OYO’s co-living segment claims to currently witness 85%-90% occupancy (matured buildings). It started its operations in Gurugram, Noida, Bengaluru, and Pune with more than 500 beds. The company recently confirmed its growing presence in the student housing segment through tie-ups with institutes such as IIT, Delhi, and Plaksha University’s Fellowship programme in Gurugram.

OYO Life leases an entire building, controls inventory, and manages operations end-to-end with breakout zones, community gaming, and interaction areas. Starting at a price of Rs 5,999 per bed, all its buildings are equipped with amenities such as Wi-Fi connectivity, air-conditioning, television, refrigerator, furnishings, regular housekeeping, power backup, and CCTV surveillance.

“OYO Life was conceptualised based on the feedback and demand from our valued customers and building owners for solving the pain-points associated with long-term rentals, including high deposits, lock-in periods, non-transparent payments, and lack of amenities,” said Rohit Kapoor, chief executive officer, new real estate businesses.

Originally targeted at young professionals and first jobbers, Kapoor said OYO Life has seen customers across various stages of life—from students, couples, right up to families, and senior citizens across diverse income groups. “We at OYO Life are geared to provide over 100,000 beds by 2019-end,” he added.

Over the past one year, the SoftBank-backed hospitality group is in expansion mode, diversifying its business and entering new markets. As a full-fledged asset manager, OYO offers the full stack of renting, leasing, and managing all properties it services. Under this model, it takes over hotels and homes, on franchise, manchise (a business contract that combines elements of a franchise and a management agreement in the same contract) or lease, and renovates them.

Earlier this year, OYO raised $200 million from home-sharing platform Airbnb. Last year, it raised around $800 million from Japan’s SoftBank as part of its Series E funding. The round was followed by funding from Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing and Asian ride-hailing giant Grab.