OYO Raised Over Rs 1,400 Cr In The August Series G Funding Round

There is a growing trend of actors and celebrities diversifying their investments into high-growth startups aiming for handsome returns once these companies go public

Actors Madhuri Dixit and Amrita Rao and producer Gauri Khan are among celebrities who have bought shares of travel tech platform OYO over the past few months.

Gauri Khan bought 2.4 million shares of OYO during the recent Series G funding round that concluded in August where the company raised over Rs. 1,400 crore from a consortium of investors, sources said. Of late, there is a growing trend of actors and celebrities diversifying their investments into high-growth startups aiming for handsome returns once these companies go public.

"Madhuri Dixit, her husband Dr. Sriram Nene, along with Dr. Ritesh Malik, the clinician doctor, founder of flex space company Innov8, founding member of Plaksha University, and angel investor have bought two million shares of OYO for an undisclosed valuation", the company said in a statement. Another celebrity couple Amrita Rao and her husband Anmol Sood, a popular radio jockey, also bought OYO shares in the secondary market.

It is said that Nuvama Wealth recently acquired shares worth Rs. 100 crore in the travel major at Rs. 53 per share on behalf of its investors, a clutch of family offices, through a secondary transaction. This translates into a valuation of $4.6 bn for the company.

While the valuation has been on the upswing, it is still a far cry from the $10 billion OYO commanded at its peak.