India's Oyo launches Japan hotels in SoftBank JV

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The Japanese tech giant has already invested nearly USD 1 billion in Oyo.

Oyo’s Japanese arm has launched operations in over 100 hotels across the East Asian nation.

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.

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