Oyo opens 100 hotels in partnership with Softbank in Japan

Indian hospitality unicorn Oyo's Japanese arm has launched operations in over 100 hotels across the East Asian nation in a joint venture with majority investor SoftBank Group Corp, as the company looks for a path to profitability.

Softbank has been struggling to raise money for a second investment fund after the failed public offering of office-rental company WeWork - one of its marquee investments - and due to questions about the profitability of others such as Oyo and taxi aggregator Uber.

The Japanese tech giant has already invested nearly $1 billion in Oyo.

The SoftBank-Oyo partnership, Oyo Hotels Japan, opened hotels in over 50 Japanese cities, including Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, Oyo said in a statement on Thursday.

It was not immediately known how much either of the companies have invested in the partnership, but a person aware of the development said SoftBank and its Vision Fund will have a 50% share in the venture.

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