Ritesh Agarwal
Thiel Fellowship · OYO Rooms
From a Small Indian Town to Running the World's Third-Largest Hotel Chain
5 March 2026
Ritesh Agarwal founded OYO at 19 after traveling across India and experiencing terrible budget hotels — unreliable Wi-Fi, dirty linens, broken air conditioning everywhere.
The Thiel Fellowship Pivot
His first venture was an Airbnb clone. After joining the Thiel Fellowship ($100K to drop out and build), he pivoted: OYO would partner with hotels, renovate them, and brand them under one name.
SoftBank-Fuelled Growth
With SoftBank's backing, OYO grew to 1 million rooms across 80 countries by 2019, becoming the world's third-largest hotel chain by room count. Valuation peaked at $9.6 billion.
Resilience
COVID-19 hit hard, but OYO recovered. Agarwal's story shows you don't need a top university or Silicon Valley — just a real problem and the drive to solve it.
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