Entrepreneurs are the need of the hour for the country’s economic development and growth. Hence, they can be considered as celebs for sure! Everyone has seen the famous OYO logo stamped on famous hotels. Who has been behind this famous venture?
Ritesh Agarwal is the founder and CEO of OYO rooms and he has sure made it big! Read on to find out more about him!
About Ritesh Agarwal
Ritesh Agarwal has been claimed as the world’s second-youngest billionaire in 2025. This hasn’t been updated in Forbes or Business Insider yet, however, he did win the Business World Young Entrepreneur Award.
He’s been a great inspiration to young entrepreneurs and aspirants all across the country!
Early Life And Family
This 27-year-old came from very humble beginnings in Bissam Cuttack town situated in Odisha state in India. He was brought up in Titilagarh and his folks own a small shop in South Orissa.
He used to work part-time selling SIM cards. In 2011, he moved to Delhi to attend college, however, he dropped out soon after. He did receive the prestigious Thiel Fellowship for young entrepreneurs who had a concrete vision and wanted to drop out of college. This changed his life!
His Career And Major Milestones
His idea was to create a budget-friendly accommodation portal called Oravel Stays and this idea got him the prestigious Thiel Fellowship to pursue this venture. He got a grant of $100,000 and he launched this idea as OYO Rooms in May 2013.
In five years, the company garnered $1 billion and Agarwal didn’t stop there. He tripled his stake and it worked amazingly for him. After Kylie Jenner, he’s the second-youngest, self-made billionaire as of February 2025.
He was also listed in the Forbes 30 under 30 list for Asia. His net worth saw a huge boost and now he’s a billionaire!
A Few Things You Didn’t Know About Ritesh Agarwal
1. Apart from the major skills he has, he is a very competent coder and tech-enthusiast. He started coding just at the age of 8!
2. He was the first resident Indian to win the prestigious Peter Thiel award at 19 years of age.
3. He worked 16 hours a day for a long time when OYO was getting set up. This sure proves hard work gets you a long way ahead!
4. When Donald Trump conducted his tour in India, he honored Agarwal!
Net Worth
For a guy who sold SIM cards at 13, he sure has come a long way with a whopping net worth of $1.1 billion! It is also said that his net worth has increased since then too! He owns approximately 2,000 hotels situated in 154 cities all across India.
He generates monthly revenue of $3.5 million! He currently has around 1,500 employees who run the services. He even has expanded overseas operating in China, UAE, Malaysia, Nepal, and Indonesia. This guy is just 27 and everyone can be sure he’s just going straight ahead and up from here.
