Ritesh Agarwal is the Founder and Group CEO of PRISM (parent of OYO). Funded by marquee investors such as Microsoft, Airbnb, SoftBank, Peak XV Partners, and Lightspeed, PRISM (parent of OYO) builds technology products and services out of India for around 185,000 hotels and homes in 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 PRISM (parent of OYO) in 2013, inspired by his own experiences as a solo teenage traveler 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.
Ritesh is among a handful of Indian startup founders to have successfully built a truly global business, with a strong presence across key geographies such as Europe, the US, and the UK. As part of PRISM (parent of OYO)’s vacation homes business in Europe, the company operates full-service holiday home providers such as DanCenter and Belvilla, and the online marketplace Traum-Ferienwohnungen. In 2024, PRISM (parent of OYO) acquired American chain G6 Hospitality, which operates the iconic Motel 6 and Studio 6 brands, from Blackstone Real Estate.
A popular figure in the startup ecosystem, Ritesh enjoys a following of over 2.2 million on social media and has been a judge on the reality television series Shark Tank India since 2024. He has been recognized 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) and Fortune 40 under 40 (2025) and The Economic Times as 40 Under 40 (2016).
Ritesh currently serves as a FICCI Executive Committee Member, and has been nominated by the Government of India as a Member of the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) Trust and its Finance Committee, as well as a Member of the India–UK CEOs Forum, a Government-to-Government (G2G) institutional arrangement.