India Hotel Brand Oyo Rooms Attracts a $10 Million Strategic Investment From China Lodging Group

China Lodging Group, which owns 3,541 hotels in China, has revealed it made a $10 million strategic investment in Oyo Rooms, a fast-growing marketplace for branded hotels in India. The move follows last week’s $250 million funding round, led by SoftBank. It is a top-up that came later but part of the same round (valuation) - so total amount is $250 million, plus $10 million. Taken altogether, Oyo Rooms has raised $446 million, to date. The investments highlight a funding arms race in a highly competitive space in India that finds aggregators branding and setting standards for previously unbranded and independent budget hotels. China Lodging Group operates brands that include Joya, Manxin, and Ji. It is among the world's 10 largest hotel groups by market capitalization, which is around $7.87 billion. The Group's Oyo investment includes a memorandum of understanding that Oyo is calling for a strategic alliance. The two companies did not share details but said it is likely they will help the other with inventory sourcing. The agreement also mentions a possible collaboration with China Lodging Group's loyalty program. That is intriguing because AccorHotels owns a tenth of HuaZhu Hotels Group, as China Lodging is also know, and since 2016 has enable guests to convert AccorHotels rewa