Ola reportedly receives funding from Sachin Bansal, nears $6bn valuation
What's the story
Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal has reportedly invested $21 million (approx Rs. 150 crore) in Ola, India's famous ride-hailing company.
The investment, made in an ongoing funding round, takes the SoftBank-backed company's value closer to the $6 billion mark.
In fact, it is now India's third most valuable private company after e-commerce giant Flipkart and digital payments platform Paytm.
Here's more on the investment.
Investment details
Bansal purchased over 70,000 preference shares
As part of Series J round of funding, Bansal invested $21mn (Rs. 150 crore) in Ola.
He acquired 70,588 preference shares from the company at a price of Rs. 21,250/share, according to documents filed with the Registrar of Companies and accessed by Paper.vc.
The investment came a few days after Hong Kong-based Steadview Capital invested $74mn (Rs. 523 crore) in the ride-hailing firm.
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Details of Steadview Capital's investment
As part of its $74mn investment, Steadview Capital acquired 2,45,082 preference shares from Ola at the same price of Rs. 21,250/share.
Ola's valuation
Now, Ola stands as India's third most valued private company
The investment from Bansal and Steadview Capital has taken Ola's valuation over $5.7bn, making it the third most valued private internet company in the country.
The company surpassed OYO's $5bn valuation and is now following digital payments platform Paytm (valued at $15-16bn) and Walmart-owned e-commerce giant Flipkart (valued at $22bn).
The company is expected to cross the $6bn mark in the coming weeks.
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Further investment possibility from Bansal
As Ola continues to look for new backers, it is expected that Sachin Bansal will invest more in the ride-hailing company. As per Economic Times, the Flipkart co-founder had committed a $100mn investment to Ola and this $21mn funding is just a part of it.
Bansal-Aggarwal duo
Connection between Sachin Bansal and Ola's Bhavish Aggarwal
The small but significant investment from Bansal makes him a crucial backer of Ola's Bhavish Aggarwal, who has been locked in a battle of control with SoftBank.
Two years ago, the duo voiced concerns over a non-level playing field in the industry, thanks to the impact of global rivals.
They had even teamed up to form IndiaTech - a group representing local internet companies.