Months after his exit from e-commerce major Flipkart, co-founder Sachin Bansal is planning to invest up to $100 million in Indian ride-hailing firm Ola, said a report in The Economic Times quoting sources.
It was recently also reported that South African internet conglomerate Naspers LLC was in talks to invest in ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd, which owns ride-hailing company Ola, at a valuation of $7-8 billion. Singapore’s Temasek Holdings Pvt. Ltd and two other funds have also been rumoured to be among investors likely to participate in Ola’s bid to raise $1 billion in fresh capital.
Earlier this year, Bansal had exited Flipkart by selling his entire shareholding of 5.5 per cent to global retail giant Walmart, which acquired a controlling stake of 77 per cent in the e-commerce retailer. According to news reports, Sachin Bansal pocketed around $1 billion from the share sale that closed in August.
Per the latest Economic Times report, Bansal will primarily subscribe to new Ola shares and could buy a small stake through a secondary sale by existing investors. The deal is also likely to value Ola at around $3-4.5 billion–similar to its recent secondary and primary transactions.
Bansal has been an active angel investor since 2014, investing around $1-2 million in early-stage companies.
Last October, Ola had raised $1.1 billion from SoftBank Group Corp. and Tencent Holdings Ltd, among others. It had announced back then that it would raise $1 billion more.
Also Read:
India: Flipkart may appoint new group CEO in place of Binny Bansal
Walmart completes deal to buy Flipkart for $16b
India’s Ola in funding talks with Naspers at a valuation of $7-8b