Oyo Scales Back as SoftBank-Funded Companies Retreat

WeWork’s fall led to questions about other start-ups that SoftBank had financed and whether those young firms could make money. Last month, the dog-walking service Wag underwent several rounds of layoffs before SoftBank sold its shares at a loss. The construction start-up Katerra, another SoftBank-funded company, also cut its staff.

This month, layoffs have gathered momentum at start-ups that SoftBank had invested in. The South American delivery service Rappi and the San Francisco car-sharing start-up Getaround said they were laying off employees. Zume, a company that used robots to make pizzas and had been valued at $2 billion, cut more than half of its work force. It also stopped making pizzas.

Some investors and start-ups said they were now approaching SoftBank’s Vision Fund cautiously — or, in some cases, avoiding it altogether.

“We have advised almost all of our companies to steer clear,” said Josh Wolfe, an investor at the venture capital firm Lux Capital who has been critical of SoftBank’s strategy. “Everyone else was fearful to say the emperor had no clothes.”

SoftBank declined to comment on Oyo and other start-ups in which it has invested.

Mr. Agarwal founded Oyo in 2013 to organize India’s small independent hotels into a chain. The company markets rooms online and takes a cut of each stay. Mr. Agarwal, who has become a business star in India, has said he aspired to make Oyo the world’s largest hotel chain by 2023, displacing Marriott.

But as Oyo tried to expand globally, in part pushed by SoftBank, it spent heavily on incentives to attract hotel owners and customers to its site. That resulted in losses in India, where Oyo has said it will lose money through at least 2021.

Masayoshi Son, SoftBank’s chief executive, began investing in Oyo in 2015. SoftBank and its Vision Fund now own half its stock. While Mr. Son has called Oyo a jewel of his fund and urged it to grow quickly, he has since changed his stance.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/13/technology/oyo-hotel-india-softbank.html?emc=rss&partner=rss