Ritesh Agarwal

Ritesh Agarwal (born 16 November 1993) is an Indian entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of OYO Rooms.

He has also appeared in Shark Tank India (season 3) since 2024.

Agarwal's net worth is estimated to be around ₹15,000 crore as of February 2024.

Ritesh Agarwal was born in a Marwari family in Bissam Cuttack, Odisha, India and brought up in Titilagarh.

His family ran a small shop in Rayagada, Odisha.

He graduated from Sacred Heart School, and later St. Johns Senior Secondary School, before moving to Delhi in 2011 for college.

Agarwal married Geetansha Sood, a native of Lucknow, on 7 March 2023.

In 2011, Agarwal started an Airbnb equivalent called "Oravel Stays".

Agarwal's enterprise went through the accelerator program Venture Nursery in 2012, and was later one of the winners of the 2013 Thiel Fellowship, receiving a grant of $100,000.

The company was launched as OYO Rooms in May 2013.

By September 2018, the company raised $1 billion.

In July 2019, it was reported that Agarwal purchased $2 billion in shares in the company, tripling his stake.

He was featured in the Forbes 30 under 30 list for Asia.

In 2023, He became the youngest Shark to be featured in Shark Tank India

Agarwal is accused of cheating Oyo's co-founder, Manish Sinha, during the early period of the company.

Agarwal signed agreements through his company OYO with hotel owners in the US in which the buildings of the owners will be rebranded under the OYO name in exchange of compensation and guarantee income but left out the information that OYO is not authorised to operate a franchise business in the state of California for which in March 2019, OYO was fined $200,000 by California regulators.

The company also received a cease and desist order from Washington, after regulators found OYO made offers to many hotel owners and managers, without proper registration.

According to an October 2019 report, police cases were filed against OYO by hotel operators in Bangalore, Mysore, and other cities of Karnataka accusing Agarwal of fraud.

The latter, however, successfully appealed for a stay order on one case in Bangalore.

In September 2020, a case was lodged against Agarwal in Dera Bassi by a Chandigarh-based businessman for fraud and conspiracy under IPC 420 (cheating) 120 B (criminal conspiracy).

OYO faced backlash from 10,000 hotel owners in India.

According to them, OYO takes up half or more of the revenues through fees that are not disclosed at the time when the hotels join OYO.