Oyo the hotel booking startup is likely to venture into assisted-living communities, or retirement homes, for senior citizens soon.
The company has financial backing from SoftBank and is valued approximately at$5 billion in its last lap of equity financing. The firm will possibility step into this new sector under its real estate firm named Oyo Life that is a co-living firm that offers accommodation to professionals.
Rohit Kapoor, CEO of Oyo’s New Real Estate Businesses joined the firm in November and said that the assisted living for senior citizens is likely to be a natural expansion of the business. Earlier, Kapoor was a director at Antara Senior Living, a Max India Group initiative and works mainly for people over 60 years of age.
According to a study by CII, the senior care center is a big market as India’s elderly population is going to be 300 million by 2050 and this is 18 percent of the total population.
In the present situation, merely 4,500 senior living units are available in the domestic market and over 2,000 units are under construction, a leading real estate service provider informed. This market already has some players like Covai-Care, Brigade Orchards’ Parkside Homes in Bengaluru and the Golden Estate in Faridabad.