- The negotiations are currently believed to be at the diligence stage
- Numerous investment firms might pump in capital in a fresh round or could participate alongside Ola to invest in sRide
Ola, the India-based ride hailing platform owned by ANI Technologies is reportedly in talks to invest in carpooling platform sRide. As per trusted sources, the potential investment of Ola is being pegged at INR 30 crore, taking the total valuation of sRide to INR 100-150 crore.
Reportedly, the negotiations are currently believed to be at the diligence stage and could witness the SoftBank-backed Ola gain a stake of about 26 percent and upwards in the carpooling startup.
According to sources aware of the developments, numerous top of the line venture capital firms have also shown interest in sRide. It is being reported that the investment firms might pump in capital in a fresh round in the company or could participate alongside Ola.
Reportedly, if the deal is successful, it would be the first institutional funding raised by sRide. As per the data on the firm on Crunchbase, it had raised around USD 1 million in angel funding in 2016 and is being largely bootstrapped since its launch. According to a report published by
TechCircle, the firm is operational in Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Pune.
For the record, sRide was established by Columbia Business School alumni Nitin Chadha, who has had stints with Motorola and Infosys Technologies, and Lakshna Chadha Jha. The company has reportedly tied up with numerous foremost corporate giants such as Capgemini, MasterCard, Wipro, Infosys, and Tata Consultancy Services.
Institutional investors have reportedly begun to demonstrate interest in India’s still-nascent carpooling vertical, as they anticipate cashing in on the wider urban mobility sphere. Last year, car and bike pooling app Quick Ride was in discussions to raise USD 4 million in a funding round led by venture capital major Sequoia Capital.