Microsoft is in advanced talks to invest in Indian budget hotel chain Oyo, a source familiar confirmed. The size of the deal is not known, but the SoftBank-backed hotel start-up is valued at about $9 billion. The news was first reported by TechCrunch, which said the proposed deal may involve Oyo shifting to use Microsoft’s cloud services. Microsoft was also not immediately available for comments. Oyo raised $660 million in debt funding this month from global institutional investors; to use the capital for paring dues and other business investments. Senior executives at the company have said the start-up is working on a potential public listing but did not provide a timeline for the IPO; — a number of highly-valued Indian technology start-ups are in the middle of entering the public markets, and food delivery firm Zomato saw a stellar stock market debut last week.