Sachin Bansal seems to be on the cusp of a history. Flipkart co-founder is said to be on the verge of closing India’s largest personal investment deal in India’s internet space. If grapevines are to be believed, Bansal is likely to pump $100 Mn or Rs 740 crore in the ride hailing company Ola.
According to sources, Bansal’s investment in Ola will mostly happen through subscription of fresh shares. Sources further add that secondary sale option by existing investors can also be carried out.
The talk of investment by Bansal comes amid Ola’s ongoing international expansion. India’s largest cab hailing company currently runs international operations in Australia and U.K and will soon launch operations in New Zealand.
Going by the recent developments, it seems that the Bengaluru based company has put its growth strategy on steroids. Its recent aggressive expansion clearly seems to be aimed towards outdoing Uber, which over the years has lost its invincibility aura owing to its unceremonious exits from several markets.
Meanwhile, Bansal is quite a veteran investor in India’s startup ecosystem space. Since 2014 the maverick entrepreneur has invested in several startups. However, most of these have been small investments and ranged between $1-2 Mn.
Ola investment will also mark Bansal’s first major investment after his exit from Flipkart following Walmart’s takeover earlier this year. He had sold his entire 5.5% stake in his founding company to the U.S. retail giant.
Reports of Bansal’s plan to invest in Ola shouldn’t come as a surprise given that he shares a close rapport with Ola’s founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal. Recently both had come together to voice their protest against incursion of foreign companies into Indian market.
Both founders along with other startup entrepreneurs eventually launched the lobby group IndiaTech, which seeks to safeguard Indian startups from unfair competition posed by the intrusion of foreign companies into the Indian market.