Ola’s Valuation Slashed 41% In Just 2 Months
Ola sees its largest-ever markdown.
Ride-hailing service Ola’s valuation has fallen by $1.8 billion in two months in the company’s biggest mark-down as investors continue to slash the value of their holdings in Indian unicorns.
Vanguard World Fund, which holds 1.19 percent in Ola’s parent company ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd., has valued its stake at a little over $30 million, according to its filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on January 31. According to the filings, Vanguard World Fund valued Ola at $182.7 per share, or $2.5 billion, in the quarter ended November 2016.
This is 41 percent lower than $311.27 per share, pegged by another fund run by the company, Vanguard Variable Insurance Funds, in September 2016. At $311.27 per share, Ola’s valuation worked out to $4.3 billion. Vanguard Variable Insurance Fund holds 0.13 percent stake in Ola.
The two valuations are comparable as both the funds hold common stock in ANI Technologies.
The markdown comes at a time when Ola is said to looking to raise more funds. Bloomberg had reported in November that Ola is looking a raise fresh funds at a 40 percent lower valuation. Ola had been valued at $5 billion when it last raised funds in 2015.
Vanguard which also owns a small stake in India’s biggest unicorn Flipkart, had also markdown its valuation in the September quarter.
Vanguard became the second investor after Softbank, to markdown Ola’s valuation. The Japanese fund house reported a loss of ¥58.1 billion ($555 million) from its financial instruments for the six months through September 2016 and had marked down the value of its two Indian investments, e-commerce marketplace Snapdeal and cab-hailing firm Ola.
Ola did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.