Softbank nominee likely to join Oyo board as non-executive director

IPO-bound unicorn Oyo's parent firm Oravel Stays Ltd is set to appoint Sumer Juneja, Managing Partner and Head of EMEA & India Investing at SoftBank Vision Fund, as a non-executive director on its board, sources said.

The appointment is subject to shareholders' approval to be sought at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM), according to information accessed by PTI.

Sumer will join Oravel Stays' Board as a nominee director of Softbank.

Sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the move signals SoftBank's bullish stance on Oyo, in light of the company turning profitable.

Travel tech platform Oyo reported financial year 2023-24 as the maiden profitable fiscal year with net earnings of nearly Rs 100 crore, founder Ritesh Agarwal said in a post on microblogging site X, formerly Twitter, recently.

"SoftBank is actively supporting Oyo and showing renewed interest in its prospects. They want to provide impetus to the company's growth in international markets," said a person familiar with the development.

Juneja's appointment comes after the departure of Munish Varma, SoftBank's previous nominee on Oyo's board, who stepped down in September 2021.

Since then Softbank did not choose to have a nominee on Oyo's Board.

The current board of Oyo includes founder Ritesh Agarwal, Bejul Somaia from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Former Indigo Exec & Co-Founder Akasa Air - Aditya Ghosh, Paralympian Dr Deepa Malik, Troy Alstead former COO of Starbucks & W Steve Albrecht former president of the American Accounting Association.

When contacted, Oyo refused to comment on the matter.

Sumer Juneja joined SoftBank in 2018 to establish its local investing presence in India before expanding his role to oversee investment activities in EMEA. Prior to SoftBank, Juneja was a Partner at Norwest Venture Partners, focusing on growth equity and venture investments in Indian companies across various sectors.

He was also a founding member of Goldman Sachs' Asian Special Situations Group in India.

Juneja holds a Bachelor of Science degree in politics and economics from the London School of Economics.