Ritesh Agarwal

Founder, CEO

Indian Bisam, Cuttack, Odisha

Quick Info

ProfessionFounder, CEO
NationalityIndian
Date of Birth16/11/1993
Age32 years
BirthplaceBisam, Cuttack, Odisha

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Bio/Wiki

Ritesh Agarwal is the founder and CEO of OYO Hotels & Homes, one of the world's largest hotel chains. He is an Indian billionaire entrepreneur who revolutionized the budget hospitality sector by identifying and resolving pain points in hotel accommodations.

Educational Qualification(s)

College dropout who chose to pursue his entrepreneurial vision

Family

From a middle-class Marwari family based in Odisha

Career

Professional CareerFounder and CEO of OYO Rooms
Formed Oravel in 2011Started with Oravel Stays in September 2012 as a budget accommodation portal
Formation of OYO RoomsRelaunched Oravel as OYO Rooms in May 2013 after receiving the Thiel Fellowship grant of USD 100,000
Achievements
  • Named among the top 50 entrepreneurs by TATA first dot awards in 2013
  • Named as one of the 8 hottest teenage startup founders in the world by Business Insider in 2013
  • Honored with TIE Luminous entrepreneurial excellence award in 2014
  • Won the Business world young Entrepreneur award in 2015
  • First Indian resident to win the Thiel Fellowship award
  • Named in the Forbes list of 30 under 30 in consumer Technology Sector in 2016
  • Became the world's second-youngest self-made billionaire at age 25
  • OYO Rooms became India's largest hotel network with operations in 154 cities and over 330,000 rooms globally by 2019
  • OYO valued at over USD 10 billion in 2019

Some Lesser Known Facts

1. He initiated his initial project when he was just 13 years old.
2. He decided to leave college to follow his business vision.
3. An accomplished author, he penned the popular book "Indian Engineering Colleges: A Complete Encyclopaedia of Top 100 Engineering Colleges."
4. He secured funding totaling 30 lakhs from Venture Nursery.
5. Regarded as one of the top 10 Indian entrepreneurs across different sectors.
6. He became the inaugural Indian to clinch the prestigious Thiel Fellowship award.
7. In July 2019, he tripled his stake in OYO with a purchase of USD 2 billion worth of shares.
8. OYO expanded internationally to Malaysia, Nepal, and Britain.
Information on this page is collected from public sources and may not be 100% accurate. Report an error
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