Ritesh Agarwal is an Indian entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of OYO Rooms, a hospitality and travel technology company. In 2016, he was named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list. In 2020, he became the second youngest self-made billionaire. He is India’s richest self-made man under the age of 40.
Wiki/Biography
Ritesh Agarwal was born on Tuesday, November 16, 1993 (Age 30; as of 2023) Bissam Cuttack in Rayagada, Orissa (now Odisha), India. His zodiac sign is Scorpio. He grew up in Titilagarh, Odisha. Ritesh completed his schooling from Sacred Heart School in Rayagada, Odisha, and then completed his high school education from St. John’s High School in Meerutkant, Uttar Pradesh, India. He then went to Kota, Rajasthan, to prepare for the Indian Institute of Technology entrance examination. Thereafter, in 2011, he joined the International Program at the University of London at the Indian Institute of Business and Finance in Delhi but later dropped out. In 2013, he became the first Asian to receive a Thiel Scholarship of US$100,000, equivalent to Rs 5.5 million.
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′ 9″
Hair color: black
Eye color: black
family and caste
Ritesh Agarwal belongs to the Marwari family of Odisha.
Parents and siblings
Ritesh Agarwal’s father is Ramesh Agarwal. He is a doctor from Orissa. On March 10, 2023, he fell to his death from the 20th floor of a building in Gurgaon.
Ritesh Agarwal and his father
Ritesh Agarwal’s mother’s name is Bela Agarwal. Her profession is doctor.
Ritesh Agarwal’s mother
Ritesh has an elder brother named Ashish Agarwal. He serves as Managing Director at Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia India and Southeast Asia). He has two sisters, both of whom are doctors by profession.
Ashish Agarwal, younger brother of Ritesh Agarwal
wife and children
Ritesh Agarwal married Geetansha Sood on March 7, 2023. Geetansha Sood is a director of Formation Ventures Limited, a private company based in Kanpur. They have a son named Aryan who was born on December 7, 2023.
Ritesh Agarwal and Geetansha Sood
Relationships/Affairs
Ritesh Agarwal dated Geetansha Sood for 11 years and got married in 2023.
Geetansha Sood and Ritesh Agarwal
Profession
In 2011, 17-year-old Ritesh Agarwal became India’s youngest CEO when he owned a company called Worth Growth Partners. The company helps foreign companies establish and expand their markets in India. Ritesh had to close the company due to financial losses. Ritesh Agarwal founded another company in 2011 called Oravel Stays. In 2012, the company was selected for the accelerator program by Venture Nursery and received funding of Rs 10 lakh. Funding of Rs 30 Lakhs. The company’s business model is similar to Airbnb, where customers can book hotel rooms online at affordable prices in India.
Ritesh Agarwal profile at Oravel Stays
In May 2013, as the business scale expanded, he changed the company’s name to OYO (On Your Own) Rooms. It becomes a marketplace for hotels to build their brands and attract customers at budget rates. As of 2023, OYO Rooms is present in 80 countries around the world.
Apart from OYO Rooms, he has been a partner of Raaga Partners LLP since 2016, a director of Dayzero Holdings Private Limited since 2021 and a partner of Redsprig Innovation Partners LLP since 2021.
dispute
Ritesh Agarwal accused of cheating Oyo co-founder Manish Sinha
In 2013, Manish Sinha accused Ritesh Agarwal of cheating. Manish Sinha said in an interview that he was tricked into selling all his shares in Oravel Stays to Ritesh.
Fined for operating without authorization in the United States
In 2019, OYO Rooms received a cease-and-desist order from Washington state and a $200,000 fine from California authorities for operating a hotel business under the OYO brand without proper registration and contacting more than 30 hotel owners in the United States.
Oyo is called an online fraud company
In 2019 and 2020, hotel owners in Chandigarh, Bengaluru, Mysore and other states filed multiple fraud and conspiracy complaints against Ritesh Agarwal. According to sources, the owners claim that more than half of OYO’s revenue is through fees, but the company did not disclose this when registering. However, Ritesh Agarwal succeeded in getting a stay order in a case in Bengaluru.
Awards and Achievements
- First Asian resident to receive 20 Under 20 Thiel Scholarship (2013)
- TATA First Dot Awards Top 50 Entrepreneurs (2013)
Ritesh Agarwal wins TATA First Point Award
- Named “One of the Top 8 Teen Startup Founders in the World” by Business Insider (2013)
- Won the TiE – Lumis Entrepreneurship Excellence Award (2014)
- Selected as one of Forbes’ “30 Under 30” in the consumer technology industry (2016)
- Business World Young Entrepreneur Award (2018)
car collection
- Mercedes-Benz S 350D is worth Rs. 1.4 Crores
- The Audi A4 is worth Rs. 4.5 million
- The Range Rover Sport is worth Rs. 1 Crore
- Mercedes-Benz E200 is worth Rs. 6.4 million
- Toyota Fortuner is worth Rs. 3.6 million
- BMW X5 is worth Rs. Rs 1.1 Crore
- Maruti Brezza is worth Rs 15 lakh
income
According to sources, Ritesh Agarwal’s monthly income is expected to be 100 million rupees in 2023, and his annual income is expected to be 1 billion rupees.
net worth
Ritesh Agarwal’s net worth is estimated to be Rs. 16,462 crore by 2023.
Fees/Valuables
Ritesh Agarwal owns a private jet worth $20 million.
Favorites
- Desserts: Chhena Poda, Rasgulla, cakes, pastries
- Cuisine: South Indian, Odia
- Movies: Munna Bhai MBBS (2003), 3 Idiots (2009)
- Books: Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Blake Masters and Peter Thiel (2014), The Hardest of Hard Things by Ben Horowitz (2014), No Rules: Netflix and Reinventing Culture by Erin Meyer and Reed Hastings (2020)
- Documentary: The People Who Built America (2012)
Facts/Trivia
- In his free time, he likes to ride bicycles, read books, and watch documentaries.
- When he was a student, he worked at a telecommunications company selling SIM cards.
- He is a big fan of dogs.
Ritesh Agarwal and a dog
- At the age of 16, he was elected to the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai. This is a summer camp where pre-college students come together to discuss and promote science to improve conditions in their areas.
- At the age of 17, he wrote a best-selling book titled Indian Engineering Colleges: A Complete Encyclopedia of Top 100 Engineering Colleges.
- Ritesh Agarwal has joined the judging panel of Sony TV’s TV show Shark Tank India Season 3.
Ritesh Agarwal (center right) with other judges from Shark Tank India Season 3
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education