OYO IPO: Ritesh Agarwal-led firm seeks to rename parent entity to pursue premiumisation

OYO Founder Ritesh Agarwal has invited name suggestions for its parent firm Oravel Stays in a strategic move as the global travel tech platform prepares to launch its IPO and looks to have more premium segment offerings.

Agarwal took to social media platforms to seek name suggestions to help craft a "new identity".

"We're renaming the corporate brand behind it all. Not the hotel chain, not a consumer product—but the parent company powering a global ecosystem of urban innovation and modern living. We believe it's time the world had a new kind of global brand—born in India, but built for the world," the OYO founder said in the post on Thursday.

Agarwal shared that it should be a bold, one-word corporate name, global in feel, not tied to one culture or language, tech-forward, sharp, but also human and memorable, and broad enough to grow beyond hospitality, preferably with a .com domain available.

He offered a prize of ₹3 lakh to the winner along with a chance to meet him.

“OYO is actively exploring launching a separate app for its premium hotels and mid-market to premium company-serviced hotels, as the segment has seen exponential growth across India as well as its global markets. There is a very high possibility that the name being selected may end up being the name of the premium hotels app that OYO has been working to launch in the near future,” said people familiar with the matter.

Earlier in May, OYO Founder Ritesh Agarwal had told employees that the company has become the most profitable Indian startup with a profit after tax of ₹623 crore in the 2024-25 financial year.

As per its unaudited financials, the company's FY25 PAT (profit after tax) grew 172% from ₹229 crore in the preceding year. It achieved an adjusted EBITDA of ₹1,132 crore in FY25, compared to ₹889 crore in the year-ago fiscal, registering a 27% year-on-year growth and its tenth consecutive quarter of EBITDA profitability.