Ritesh Agarwal

Bio:

Ritesh Agarwal is the Founder and Group CEO of PRISM (parent of OYO). Backed by marquee investors such as Microsoft, Airbnb, SoftBank, Peak XV Partners and Lightspeed, PRISM builds technology products and services out of India for more than 293,000 storefronts across 35 countries, empowering millions of small business owners and entrepreneurs around the world.

Hailing from a small town in Odisha, India, Ritesh was only 19 when he founded the company in 2013, inspired by his own experiences as a solo teenage traveller staying at small hotels, BnBs and guest houses across the country. He was one of the first Asian residents to be accepted to the prestigious Thiel Fellowship, and in 2020 he became the world's second-youngest billionaire.

The United Kingdom is one of PRISM's most important international markets. The company operates a growing premium portfolio here through Sunday Hotels, with properties in cities including London, Bristol, Cardiff, Manchester, Exeter and Winchester, and through Belvilla, its full-service holiday home brand. In 2026, PRISM added 40 hotels to its UK portfolio, combining heritage properties with well-located city and regional assets, all run on technology built in India. Across the rest of Europe, the group operates DanCenter, CheckMyGuest and the online marketplace Traum-Ferienwohnungen. In the United States, PRISM owns G6 Hospitality, the operator of the Motel 6 and Studio 6 brands.

A popular figure in the startup ecosystem, Ritesh enjoys a following of over 5.5 million on social media and has been a judge on the reality television series Shark Tank India since 2024. He has been recognised as a young innovator and business leader by Bloomberg Businessweek in the Bloomberg 50 List (2019), CNBC as Young Turk of the Year (2019), Fortune in the Tycoons of Tomorrow Award (2018), Forbes as 30 Under 30 (2016), Fortune 40 Under 40 (2025), and The Economic Times as 40 Under 40 (2016).

Ritesh is a Member of the India–UK CEOs Forum, a Government-to-Government institutional arrangement, and has been nominated by the Government of India as a Member of the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) Trust and its Finance Committee. He also serves as a FICCI Executive Committee Member.