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Oravel Stays Ltd., the company behind budget hotel chain Oyo, is finally making its move toward a public listing in India. The IPO, targeting roughly Rs 6,650 crore (approximately $800 million), comes after years of false starts, refilings, and a valuation that has been on quite the roller coaster since 2021.
SoftBank Group, which holds approximately 46% of shares prior to the offering, stands as the dominant backer. Founder and CEO Ritesh Agarwal controls around 33%.
A five-year odyssey to go public
The company first filed a draft red herring prospectus in 2021, initially targeting Rs 8,430 crore at a valuation of roughly $9 billion. The company filed confidentially in December 2025, and the Securities and Exchange Board of India granted its clearance on June 5, 2026.
In September 2025, Oravel Stays rebranded itself to Prism, a move designed to consolidate its various hospitality brands, including Oyo and Townhouse, under a single corporate umbrella.
At its peak in 2021, the company was valued at roughly $10 billion. Current market assessments place it somewhere between $7 billion and $8 billion, or potentially less depending on who’s doing the math.
What SoftBank’s position means
SoftBank’s 46% stake makes this IPO particularly interesting from a capital flows perspective. The firm has been actively trimming positions in public companies to shore up its own balance sheet and fund new AI-focused investments. An IPO gives SoftBank a path to gradually reduce its exposure while potentially booking a return on an investment that, at various points, looked deeply uncertain.
For investors watching the Indian market specifically, the key metric to track post-listing will be whether institutional allocation holds steady or if early investors like SoftBank begin selling significant portions within the first lock-up windows.
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