Ritesh Agarwal, an Indian billionaire entrepreneur and the founder and CEO of Oyo Rooms, became the world’s second youngest billionaire in 2020.
Agarwal was born in Bissau Cuttack in Odisha state and brought up in Titilgarh. At the age of 13, he was selling SIM cards.
After graduating from St. Johns Senior Secondary School, he moved to Delhi in 2011 for college, however, later dropped out.
Ritesh was selected for the Thiel Fellowship in 2013.
Then he started a budget accommodation portal, Oravel Stays, for booking budget hotels which was accepted into the accelerator programme by Venture Nursery in September 2012, and later was one of the winners of the 2013 Thiel Fellowship program, receiving a grant of $100,000.
The company was launched as OYO Rooms in May 2013 and by September 2018, the company raised $1 billion. In July 2019 it was reported that Agarwal purchased $2 billion in shares in the company, tripling his stake.
His net worth in 2020 was estimated to be approximately $1.1 billion (INR 7253 crore) according to Hurun Rich List 2020. As of February 2020, he is the second youngest self-made billionaire in the world.