Tiger Global, the international private equity investor, will reportedly sell a portion of its stake in Ola to Japan based SoftBank. Venture capital fund SoftBank is currently in the final stages of acquiring an additional 10%-12% in Ola’s parent company ANI Technologies. This move comes after Tiger Global’s Management Partner, Lee Fixel, stepped down from Ola’s board last week.
According to a news daily, the Japanese firm is ready to pay close to $ 400 to $ 500 million in an attempt to increase its holdings in the ride hailing company to around 50% from 40%. Currently, Tiger Global holds close to 22% stake in the cab aggregating company. This deal between Tiger Global and SoftBank could give Ola’s second largest backer a partial exit.
Ola raised close to $ 1.1 billion in a funding round led by Chinese internet major Tencent Holdings Ltd., along with existing investor SoftBank last month. The Bengaluru based company was also in talks to further raise $ 1 billion as a part of the current financing round. Ola, which has a presence in 110 cities across India, provides a wide array of services including online booking of auto rickshaws and bikes, along with cabs. Launched in 2011, Ola raised close to $ 3.9 billion in capital in 11 funding rounds. The company also claims to have around 20 investors including Microsoft and eBay. Tiger Global was one of Ola’s early investors and also led the company’s Series A funding round.
However, SoftBank has been placing huge bets on startups all over the world. The company also finalized a $ 1 billion investment in Uber, Ola’s prime rival. Several media reports suggest SoftBank may integrate both the cab aggregator companies to take regional firms to international markets and bring the global portfolio companies to India. SoftBank Vision Fund CEO Rajeev Misra hinted the company’s intentions to consolidate both the startups in September this year stating, “We own more than 30% in Ola and we would own much less stake in Uber. We have owned the stake in Ola since 2014 and it does send conflicting signals. But we are hoping that we make peace between them at some point.”