Short-stay accommodation portal Oravel raises funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners

Delhi-based Oravel Stays Pvt Ltd, the company behind the online short-stay accommodation portal Oravel.com, has received an undisclosed amount in funding from Lightspeed Venture Partners, according to Medianama report, citing Oravel's founder and CEO Ritesh Agarwal.

This funding comes a little over a year after the firm secured funding from a consortium of investors, including startup accelerator Venture Nursery, Everest Flavours' MD and active angel investor Anand Ladsariya and Nirvana Venture Advisors co-founder Amit Patni.

Founded by Ritesh Agarwal when he was just 16, Oravel connects home owners and property managers with travellers who seek clean, comfortable, affordable places or holiday rental homes. The portal has currently listed more than 3,000 boutique guest homes, inns, bed and breakfasts, serviced apartments, holiday rental and palaces, across multiple locations. The portal is free-to-use for travellers and also features listing reviews. Oravel was incubated at Venture Nursery in 2012.

Last May, Agarwal had won 20 Under 20 Thiel Fellowship for 2013. The fellowship, which picks 20 individuals who are aged under 20, provides $100,000 each to the selected ones besides mentorship from a host of entrepreneurs, investors and thought leaders including PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, Napster founder Sean Parker and Tesla Motors founder Elon Musk.

Late last year, Lightspeed had invested $550,000 in New Delhi-based Phone Warrior Pvt Ltd which offers a mobile spam control app.