Airbnb invests $75 million in SoftBank-backed Oyo

US home sharing company Airbnb has invested $75 million (Rs 516 crore) in SoftBank-backed hospitality firm Oyo, regulatory filings sourced from business signals platform Paper.vc showed.

The investment brings to a close Oyo’s nearly $1.1 billion Series E funding round that saw participation from SoftBank Vision Fund, Didi Chuxing and Grab as well. A spokesperson from Oyo confirmed the investment from Airbnb and the closure of the round.

The investment from Airbnb was made at the same $5 billion valuation at which Oyo raised $800 million led by the Softbank Vision Fund, and $100 million apiece from Southeast Asia's Grab and China’s Didi Chuxing.

While Oyo did not confirm of possible synergies with Airbnb post the investment, the Gurugram-based firm could potentially give Airbnb access to its 173,000 rooms spread across 259 cities. For Oyo, the firm will get access to Airbnb’s large global traveller base and Indian users as well.

ET had reported on April 2 that both companies were exploring several opportunities to collaborate in India, including making Oyo’s inventory available on Airbnb, citing sources within the company.

It is estimated that Airbnb has 45,000 listings on its platform in India. In February, Airbnb co-founder Nathan Blecharczyk had told ET that India was among the top five fastest growing markets for the company. The US firm’s investment in Oyo comes ahead of its plan to IPO which could possibly take place in 2019.

Experts and industry watchers theorised that the partnership could also lead to synergies in China, where Oyo has expanded quickly and is operating in 280 cities with 5,000 hotels and 260,000 rooms. China has been a market where Airbnb has failed to gain a foothold and compete with local players.