Microsoft Funds Indian Hospitality Unicorn At $9.6B Valuation Despite Pandemic-Induced Downturn

Microsoft Corp MSFT has invested $5 million in SoftBank Group Corp SFTBY-backed Indian hotel aggregator chain Oyo Rooms, TechCrunch reported on Thursday, confirming earlier speculations.

What Happened: The fresh funding values Oyo, which allows users to book rooms via their phones or the web and has navigated through the pandemic with layoffs and losses, at $9.6 billion.

The startup was valued at $10 billion in a funding round in July 2019 but due to the hit taken amid the pandemic, its valuation slipped to $3 billion in recent quarters as implied in a funding from Japan's Softbank, which is one of its largest investors.

Last month, Oyo said it had raised $660 million in debt.

Why It Matters: Microsoft has in the past made investments in Indian startups that include news aggregator and short-video platform DailyHunt, Walmart Inc WMT-owned e-commerce giant Flipkart, and logistics SaaS firm FarEye.

The deal may require Oyo, which is considering an initial public offering, to use Microsoft’s cloud services, the report noted.

Price Action: Microsoft shares closed 2.08% higher at $296.77 on Thursday. 

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