Vogo, which has a fleet of over 12,000 vehicles mainly across Hyderabad, Mysuru and Bengaluru, is also betting big on India's growing traffic congestion.
Ola commits to invest $100 mn in Vogo, to bring scooter-sharing to its app, reports Alnoor Peermohamed.
The new tranche of funding raises Ola's valuation to $5.74 billion from $4.45 billion in October 2017
With its foray into self-drive, Ola will go head-to-head with early entrants Zoomcar, Revv and a few other.
The two parties did not share the deal size but said MavenHive's two founders and 40-odd team members have joined the Bansal-owned firm. MavenHive was started by Bhavin Javia and Anandha Krishnan in 2012.
Bansal has picked up a majority stake in Chaitanya Rural Intermediation Development Services, a company which runs microfinance institution Chaitanya India Fin Credit.
In 2018, venture debt providers cumulatively deployed Rs 1,300 crore. This year, the market is expected to absorb venture debt of Rs 1,800 crore to Rs 2,000 crore. So what makes this asset class so attractive?
Though startups find 17 mentions in the Budget speech of the finance minister, and have been promised tax exemptions, the reality is that only 2 per cent of the 4,648 applications received from startups for income tax exemption had been approved as of February 2019, according to an answer to a Parliament question. As India's startup space bubbles with activity - new, young players are tapping into opportunities opening up - there are local anti-portfolio stories circulating about investors missing opportunities in 'unicorns', or companies that have reached valuation of $ 1 billion, says Vandana Gombar.
The deal brings the two start-up stalwarts - Bansal and Ola co-founder and chief executive officer Bhavish Aggarwal - together in the backdrop of growing foreign control in this space.
With regard to his investment in Ola, Bansal said that on the one hand, the ride-hailing major had emerged as a global force in the mobility space and on the other it continued to build deeper for various needs of a billion Indians through its platform. This is the largest funding by an individual in the app cab.
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