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Uber rival Ola seeking new funding on reduced valuation of $3B to $4B
Uber Technologies Inc. rival Ola (ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd.) is seeking to raise new funding in a down round, according to a report published in India.
According to The Economic Times, quoting “five people aware of the developments,” Ola is seeking to raise around $500 million. The round will be led by Japan’s Softbank and will include existing investors DST Global and Tiger Global Management. The valuation is $3 billion to $4 billion, down from a valuation of $5 billion when it last raised $500 million in November 2015.
If the deal goes through it will be the first time a unicorn, that is a startup with a valuation in excess of $1 billion, has accepted new money on a down round in India.
Founded in 2010, Ola allows users to book a taxi in over 100 cities in India and offers, such as Uber, a variety of options from basic taxis and in some cities rickshaws (tuktuks) through to luxury vehicles. The company claims to hold a 60 percent market share in India, although Uber claims to hold a 50 percent market share based on rides, so the exact figure is not clear.
Along with providing transport services, Ola has recently branched out into complementary services. They include a partnership with State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank to operate as a mobile ATM, as well as Ola Play, an Apple Music-infused platform in partnership with Qualcomm Corp. that delivers on-demand international and local music content to more than 100 cities.
Ola’s need to raise more funding comes at a time when Uber, having sold its Chinese division to Didi Chuxing Technology Co. in August, is now investing more money into countries where it is not the market leader, India among them.
The down round is being attributed in part to trouble at the company, in this case not matching revenue growth with its peers such as Lyft Inc., which has a valuation of $5.5 billion. Coming into the new round, Ola had raised $1.23 billion previously over eight rounds from investors including ABG Capital, Accel Partners, Didi Chuxing, DST Global, GIC, Matrix Partners, Mauritius Investments, Sequoia Capital and SoftBank.
Image credit: Ola
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