Indian Hostel Chain Zo World CEO on IPO Plans and Expansion

Indian backpacker hostel chain Zostel’s parent company Zo World is preparing for an IPO three to four years down the line, CEO Aviral Gupta told Skift. Every property operated by the chain is profitable. However, despite its profitability and the trend in India, it is not ready to go public yet.

“We need to build an ecosystem first,” Gupta told Skift. The company is looking at an interconnected ecosystem for its different verticals and products – something that he believes will take three to four years. “That is the right time to go public.”

Zo World’s businesses include its hostel arm Zostel, a tours and trips vertical Zo Trips, homestay business Zo Villas, and clubhouses under Zo Houses. “We’ll be going for entire silo integration vertically across the travel ecosystem,” Gupta said, without revealing much details prematurely.

For now, the company, which is currently present at 100 destinations across Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra,