Backpacker hostel brand Hosteller is entering its most ambitious growth phase yet, scaling rapidly across India on the back of fresh capital, a sharply differentiated social-led hospitality model, and clear international ambitions. Founder and CEO Pranav Dangi outlines how the company plans to multiply its footprint, deepen its experiential promise, and raise its next round of funding.
Hosteller, the backpacker hostel brand founded in 2015, has seen 2025 emerge as a defining year in its growth journey, driven largely by a Series A funding round raised towards the end of 2024 and a sharp post-Covid rebound in travel.
“What happened in 2024 led to what we did in 2025,” said Pranav Dangi, founder and CEO of Hosteller, explaining that the capital raised around September–October 2024 was deployed almost immediately to accelerate expansion across India. At the time of fundraising, Hosteller operated around 30 properties.
“The vision was very clear—the money was for expanding our footprint deeper into the cities we were already present in, and to add a few more cities as we go,” he said.
That strategy translated into rapid scale in 2025, with the brand expanding from roughly 2,300 beds in 2024 to 5,100 beds currently.
“We have another 2,000 beds in our pipeline,” Dangi said. By the current pace of expansion, he expects the brand to be 6,500 beds strong by March, 2026 with close to 80 properties pan-India. This would translate in new destinations as well as densifying the existing destinations like Goa, Bengaluru, Rishikesh, Manali, McLeodganj and Delhi.
Dangi described the pace of growth as just the beginning, noting, “India alone, for us, is a market of almost if not more than 400 to 500 properties, and we want to get there in another five to six years.”
Launched in 2015, the brand had gone through a lot of experimentations in the pre-Covid years. The real push for the brand had come in the post-Covid era with experiential and social travel gaining traction, especially in among the GenZ travellers.
“A lot of growth has for us came post-Covid—we grew from 12 properties in 2022 to close to 60 properties in 2025,” he said, underlining the momentum the brand is currently riding.
While Hosteller competes primarily with one, two and three-star hotels, guest houses, homestays and budget resorts, Dangi said that the product offerings are clearing distinguishable from the competition.
“Hotels are very transactional—you check in, you stay, you check out. Hostels have one extra letter, and that ‘S’ stands for social.” Hosteller, he explained, builds “an entire social layer on top of the transactional nature of hotels,” bringing guests together through curated events, outdoor activities, city walks, food tours, hikes and treks.
Experiential design is central to the brand promise. “The philosophy is that the guest spends as little time in the room and more time in the common areas,” Dangi said. Unlike hotels, Hosteller has a dedicated role of community manager whose responsibility is to engage with guests and facilitate interaction. “We are building accommodation, and then building events, activities and an experience layer on top of that,” he said, arguing that this creates significantly more value for travellers than just “a good bed.”
Consistency and standardisation across locations have also been critical in crowded market place. “All our hostels are built on a single design philosophy,” Dangi said, noting that mattress quality, sleep comfort, amenities and interiors remain uniform across destinations.
“If there is a Hosteller, it will be absolutely standardised—it will not differ from one city to another.”
The brand caters primarily to an 18–35-year-old audience, focusing on solo travellers, couples and groups. “We don’t cater to families, and we don’t host anyone below 18 even if accompanied by parents,” he said, reinforcing Hosteller’s youth-centric positioning. Over time, this clarity has shaped customer expectations. “People choose us for the look, the feel and the vibe of the property,” he said.
The brand targets what Dangi called “aspirational, experiential youth” who want to experience destinations like locals and connect with like-minded travellers. “If you don’t fit into the community, you probably won’t come to the hostel,” he said, while emphasising that robust operating procedures are in place to balance fun with safety. These include a strict no-alcohol policy within hostel premises, the right to admission and eviction, and even a blacklisting module for repeat offenders.
“We understand young travellers want to have fun, but we have SOPs and training to keep things in check,” he said.
On the business model, Dangi clarified that Hosteller neither franchises nor operates management contracts. “Whatever properties we have, we operate them ourselves,” he said. Properties are taken on long-term leases, either furnished by owners or fitted out by Hosteller, and operated on a revenue-share or minimum guarantee plus revenue-share model.
Looking ahead, Hosteller is preparing for its next phase of expansion, including international markets.
“The plan is for the second half of 2026,” Dangi said, with Nepal, Sri Lanka and the UAE identified as the first overseas destinations.
To fund this growth, the company is also planning a larger capital raise. He said that in this round, they have a 3 to 5 year expansion cycle in focus, and therefore, the volume of the fund will be bigger than the first round in 2024 September.
The company had raised close to Rs 50 Cr in Series A in September-October, 2024.
