Sachin Bansal Can Gamble His 10% Personal Wealth In Ola; A $100 Million Investment?
Ola was last valued at $4.3 billion, after Chinese investors pumped in $50 million last month
Flipkart’s founder Sachin Bansal is all set to gamble 10% of his personal wealth on Ola. This is indeed big, because if this investment happens, then it will be the largest funding driven by a personal wealth of any individual.
What makes Sachin Bansal place his trust in Ola’s business model?
We try to find out!
Sachin Bansal’s $100 Million Gamble
Sachin Bansal, who co-founded Flipkart with Binny Bansal and then recently made a smooth exit pocketing $1 billion, can invest in Ola.
As per reports coming in, Sachin Bansal will invest $100 million or 10% of his personal wealth in Ola, very soon.
In exchange, Sachin can claim an equity share, which will be allocated by issuing new shares. In the process, some existing investors may make an exit as well.
Ola was valued at $4.3 billion, after their last funding round last month (September 2018).
$50 million was infused by Sailing Capital, a Hong Kong-based private equity firm, and the China-Eurasian Economic Cooperation Fund (CEECF).
Last year, Ola had created ripples all across by raising $2 billion from SoftBank and Ratan Tata, who made a small investment in his personal capacity.
Why Sachin Bansal Is Ready To Gamble 10% Of His Personal Wealth?
In May this year, when Walmart acquired Flipkart and changed everything for Indian ecommerce, Sachin Bansal sold his 5.5% share to Walmart, and exited with $1 billion (approximately).
Now, if he indeed invests $100 million into Ola, then it will be 10% of his personal wealth.
This shows the confidence that Sachin Bansal has on Ola, and the belief that Ola will be among India’s top 5 Internet startup for atleast 5 more years.
Besides, Ola’s founder Bhavish Aggarwal and Sachin Bansal had known each other for some time.
Last year, when Sachin Bansal launched IndiaTech, a forum to address woes of Indian startups, and to ‘protect’ them from Western capitalists, then Bhavish Aggarwal was standing with him, and supporting him.
After Walmart’s entry, Sachin Bansal has quit the position at IndiaTech.
Besides, when Time Magazine featured Bhavish Aggarwal as one of the most influential persons of 2018, then Sachin Bansal wrote the foreword for him.
No doubt they both have a personal bonding, and they trust each other. Besides, the business model of Ola and the growth which it has sustained in the last few months definitely encourages the smart investor to come on-board.
We will keep you updated, as more details come in.
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