Amit Damani, co-founder, StayVista
Luxury villa rental company StayVista is planning to go public with an initial public offering (IPO) by 2028, eyeing a revenue of Rs 600 crore.
The company, which is the largest player in the segment, currently operates 1,000 properties across the country and plans to grow its portfolio to 2,500 villas in the coming two-and-a-half years.
“We reached a revenue of Rs 140 crore in FY24, after which the company turned Ebitda positive in the first quarter of FY25, with a revenue of Rs 42.2 crore and net profit of Rs 1 crore. We have been extremely capital efficient over the last seven years with capital of only Rs 30 crore and expect to close this year with a revenue of Rs 196 crore and a profit of Rs 4 crore,” says Amit Damani, co-founder, StayVista.
“The trend of short-haul trips like on a long weekend or for celebrations is leading to a higher occupancy for the category,” he says.
The occupancy levels, while low compared to hotels, remain at 35 per cent on average, but can go up to 80 per cent on weekends. Getaway destinations from metros—Kasauli from Delhi, Lonavala near Mumbai, Coorg near Bengaluru, and Goa—are the company’s largest markets.
According to Statista, the vacation rentals market in India, with an estimated projection of $2.12 billion by 2024, is predicted to maintain a yearly growth rate of 8.72 per cent, to reach $3.22 billion by 2029.
“Homestays is the new category, which is showing a lot of promise and I see it growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 30-40 per cent for the next three to four years,” Rajesh Magow, co-founder and group chief executive officer, MakeMyTrip, had told Business Standard earlier.
Damani plans to capitalise on this growth by solidifying their presence in the largest markets and venturing into new domestic geographies.
“We want to further expand our network in the country. We see a lot of growth potential in focus markets like Uttarakhand, Himachal, and Kashmir where we want to increase our supply. Additionally, we are looking at markets like wildlife destinations and pilgrim destinations. We launched in Varanasi a year ago and the occupancy there is higher than all our other properties, so that’s what we want to focus on,” he says.
“We are looking at Tirupati, Ayodhya, and Rishikesh, and wildlife destinations like Ranthambore, Bandhavgarh, and Kanha National Park, among others. These destinations are also favourable for weddings and corporate events, for which we’re looking at larger properties—a cluster of three to five cottages—which gives us a larger inventory to host bigger events,” he adds.
First Published: Sep 22 2024 | 6:41 PM IST