HBI Staff | Hyderabad 
According to HT, Olive, the co-living and hospitality arm of Embassy Group, is seeking to raise USD 20 million and attract a strategic investor with a minority equity stake, co-founder and chief executive Kahraman Yigit told HT Digital. Informal talks have begun, and the process is expected to conclude within six months.
“It’s not just about capital; we’re looking for a strategic partner who can help us enhance our offerings and capabilities,” Yigit explained. Following the fundraising, Olive aims to expand its tech infrastructure to build a more comprehensive system.
Embassy Group holds a 70% stake in Olive, with the remaining shares owned by co-founders Kahraman Yigit and Dhruv Kalro. Olive currently operates 55 co-living and hotel properties across Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Goa, totaling 2,688 keys. The company plans to add another 5,001 keys, according to data shared by the brand.
Olive operates four sub-brands—Olive Life, Olive Zip, Olive Hotel, and Villa Olive—offering options from co-living and budget stays to luxury resorts, hotels, and villas.
Olive aims to double its revenue in the ongoing financial year (2024-25) from the ₹51 crore achieved in the last fiscal year, Yigit said. “We’re already at 40% of our target in the first quarter of this financial year,” he added.
However, the company is behind its initial timeline of turning profitable by June 2024 due to delays in construction. “We’re set to turn profitable by the end of this year,” Yigit noted.
Currently, 90% of Olive’s business comes from short stays, with long stays generating between INR 15,000-40,000 per unit, Yigit said.
In 2020, the Bengaluru-headquartered real estate major Embassy Group pledged an investment of INR 2,000 crore into Olive. However, less than 5% of this fund has been deployed so far, Yigit informed HT Digital.
Rental yields on long stays fell below 10% following the pandemic, down from the anticipated 13-14%. Post-Covid, construction costs increased due to inflation, and rents did not rise as expected, leading to a halt in further real estate investments (ProCo) by the company, he explained.
Source: HT
