As per Economic Times report, Japan’s leading telecom giant Softbank looking to invest Rs 1,700-2,000 crore in India’s leading Taxi aggregator Ola. This is the first funding investment from Softbank after Nikesh Arora Exit.
According to the sources, ” SoftBank is looking to commit more capital but Ola wants to control dilution”.
Ola was valued at about $5 billion when it closed $500 million funding from China’s Didi Chuxing and Scottish investment firm Baillie Gifford in November last year. The new investment will not increase the value.
So far, Ola has raised about $1.2 billion and counts Soft-Bank, New Yorkbased investment firm Tiger Global Management, Russian billionaire Yuri Milner’s DST Global and venture capital firm Matrix Partners India as its largest shareholders.
Last month, SoftBank led a $750-million cash infusion in Grabtaxi, Uber’s competitor in Southeast Asia. The final size of the round is yet to be determined. Ola is looking to raise about $500 million in the financing round, which could go up to $700 million if it is able to get new investors to write large cheques, said these sources.
Pixr8 sent email to Ola and SoftBank for comment get unanswered till the story has been published. The support from Softbank comes at a time when Uber looking to stepping up its investments in India after it exited China in July.
Uber is currently burning about $30 million in India, which will go up to $45-50 million as it ramps up expansion across cities and products.
While Uber spending up the funding in India, still managed to retain its market leadership in India. Ola’s lower-cost fleet like Ola Mini, luxury car rentals and subscription services attracts customers so far. It has also been strengthening its supply of drivers and cars through the leasing business.