Sachin Bansal, the founder of Walmart-controlled Indian online retailer Flipkart, is reportedly in talks with investors to sell his stake in ride-hailing firm Ola.
Bansal invested $100 million in Bhavish Aggarwal’s Ola in 2019 and has sought a premium to sell his stake by valuing the company at around $4 billion, The Economic Times reported citing people briefed on the matter.
Bansal’s plans to sell his stake in Ola also come months after he sold a significant part of his holding in Ather Energy to Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath.
According to the report, Bansal has been focusing on his fintech venture Navi over the past year and is looking to liquidate large holdings such as Ola to build a war chest for his startup. He has explored external fundraising for Navi, but those talks are yet to fructify.
Ola, backed by SoftBank, has not yet achieved profitability, grappling with elevated costs and cuts in EV subsidies.
Ola Electric is contending with regulatory challenges after its stellar initial public offering in August, as its lead in India’s burgeoning electric two-wheeler market diminishes. The stock has lost over 13% in value since its listing, after hitting its peak on August 16 of Rs 133 per share. On Tuesday, the stock was trading at Rs 79.22 per share.
Numerous customer complaints have prompted India’s premier product certification body to investigate Ola’s service and product quality issues.
