Weddingz.in to double headcount to 3,000 people by year-end

Hospitality firm OYO-owned Weddingz.in has said it aims to double its headcount to over 3,000 people by the end of the year.

The company said its revenue has grown by 480 per cent since the takeover by OYO and headcount has also expanded from 200 people to about 1,500 people.

"In a span of 12 months, we have scaled great heights and expanded our presence significantly. Since joining forces with OYO, we have witnessed dramatic growth in supply (venues), which is one of our key drivers to growth. We plan to tap the enormous opportunity the wedding industry offers and expand to more tier II locations in India," Weddingz.in CEO Sandeep Lodha said.

The company has seen an increase in number of venues on its platform from 100 to 750.

Lodha pointed out that the wedding market in India, which is primarily unorganised, is about USD 40-50 billion (about Rs 2.8-3.5 lakh crore) in size. Of this, the venue segment alone is about half, that is about USD 20-25 billion and growing at about 20 per cent annually.

Weddingz.in's platform allows venue booking as well as access to services like decor, catering, in-house photographers, makeup artists and wedding planners.

"We want to get 25 per cent market share in every city we operate in...We are looking at expanding into more tier II and III cities, including Coimbatore and Varanasi in the coming months," he said.

Lodha said the company is also looking at international markets like the US and China to cater to local requirements in those markets, but the timeline isn't clear on that yet.

"We have been growing at a very strong pace and we are confident of continuing this growth momentum over the next few years...We are looking at ramping up our headcount to over 3,000 by the end of December 2019," he said.

He noted that the company has witnessed 636 per cent growth in bookings since August last year.

Currently, the company has presence in the metros as well as cities like Pune, Jaipur, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Meerut, Siliguri, Nagpur and Nasik.