Sachin Bansal boards Ola as investor
Contemporaries since early days, Bansal and Aggarwal had teamed up in 2016, when their respective companies lobbied before the government seeking a policy to protect the interest of local entrepreneurs.
But, both Ola and Flipkart have been funded by marquee foreign investors. And in 2018, American retail major Walmart acquired a majority stake in Flipkart for $16 billion.
An active angel investor during his Flipkart days, having funded prominent players such as Tracxn and Ather Energy, Bansal is now taking start-up investments seriously, sources said. Bansal got around $1 billion from his Flipkart shares and exit remuneration.
"This (Sachin's investment in Ola) is not just about the money he has put in. Ola is at a level where it will either acquire (another firm), get acquired or go for an IPO
(initial public offering). When you are doing either of these three, you have to have on your side people who have been there and done that," said Sanchit Vir Gogia, chief analyst and CEO at Greyhound Research.
"We should expect something out of Ola soon," added Gogia.
Ola is locked in a battle with Uber on the Indian turf. What makes this contest complicated is that Japan's Softbank is a common investor and wants the two firms to aim for profitability cutting down the losses, possibly by merging their India operations.
Uber is preparing for an IPO in the US.
Owing to the mounting losses, the San Francisco head quartered company sold its operations in Russia, China and South-East Asia to local rivals. Meanwhile, Ola is diversifying into online food delivery and grocery while foraying into global markets including the UK, Australia and New Zealand. It had entered the food delivery space by acquiring FoodPanda in 2017. The company is also working on adjoining services like in-cab entertainment and advertising system OlaPlay, native wallet Ola Money, and scooter rental through recent partnership with Vogo.
So far, Ola is learnt to have maintained a marginal lead over Uber in India, with more driver partners, daily rides and presences in cities.
Ola is diversifying into online food delivery and grocery while foraying into global markets including the UK, Australia and New Zealand. It had entered the food delivery space by acquiring FoodPanda in 2017