Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal has invested $92 million (INR 650 crores) in Ola, owned by ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
The ride-hailing app, Ola received $21.18 million (INR 149.99 crore) as its first portion of $92 Million in a funding round. So far, this is the most substantial solitary investment made in Ola till date. The gross amount invested in the company is the personal fortune of Sachin Bansal, who made more than $1 billion by selling a 5.2% stake in the e-commerce major during the $16 billion Walmart-Flipkart deal. The investment to Ola is made in Series J funding round.
Bansal in a statement said, “Ola is one of India’s most promising consumer businesses that is creating deep impact and lasting value for the ecosystem. On the one hand, they have emerged as a global force in the mobility space and on the other, they continue to build deeper for various needs of a billion Indians through their platform, becoming a trusted household name today.”
Bansal has launched BAC Acquisitions Pvt. Ltd in December 2018 with his former IIT Delhi batchmate and investment banker Ankit Agarwal.
At the brighter side, Ola raised $15.6 million (INR 112 crore) from the new foreign investors this month in its ongoing Series J funding round including investors like New York-based philanthropists Tina and Steven Price, Raymond S Cahnman- chairman of TransMarket Group, J3T Ventures, and Lyon Assets- investment firm.
Co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal of Ola said, “We are extremely thrilled to have Sachin onboard Ola as an investor. Sachin is an icon of entrepreneurship and his experience of building one of India’s most respected businesses ground up, is unparalleled. His investment is a huge encouragement for all of us at Ola and our mission to serve a billion people.”
In September 2018, Ola was reported to be signing large cheques to manage its new operations in the overseas market and for acquiring Foodpanda’s India operations. Ola had raised $50 million from Hong Kong-based Sailing Capital and China-Eurasian Economic Co-operation Fund.
The online cab-aggregator, Ola kept its bigfoot in overseas markets and started its operations in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK, in 2018.
