Vanguard Cuts Ola's Valuation Again, This Time To $3.5 Billion
Vanguard had cut its valuation of Ola at the beginning of the pandemic as well because its ride-hailing operations were stalled.
U.S.-based asset management firm Vanguard Inc. cut Ola's valuation further by 27% to about $3.5 billion.
Vanguard holds less than 1% of ANI Technologies Pvt., the owner of ride-hailing company Ola, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings accessed by BQ Prime. It owns about 1,85,355 shares in the company via two funds: Vanguard World Fund and Vanguard Variable Insurance Funds.
A large chunk, about 1.6 lakh shares, are held with the Vanguard World Fund. It valued its holdings at about $25.03 million, according to its July 31 filing.
That compares with its $33.86 million valuation, according to its Feb. 28 filing, and $51 million in October 2022.
This implies that Ola's valuation has fallen by about 27% from $4.5 billion on Feb. 28 and by 52% from $7.2 billion in October last year.
Ola's valuation is now back to its 2017 valuation, according to Vanguard's filings, when the ride-hailing company raised around $330 million at a valuation of about $3.5 billion.
Vanguard had cut its valuation of Ola at the beginning of the pandemic as well because its ride-hailing operations were stalled due to a countrywide lockdown. To be clear, these markdowns have only been made in the internal books of Vanguard Inc.
Several Indian startups have recently seen a reduction in valuation, including Ola, Swiggy, and Byju's, as capital markets undergo a change, with a defined path to profitability and focused ambitions taking precedence over growth and blitzscaling.
The reduction in valuation for privately held companies also translates to longer timelines for initial public offerings. Ola, Oravel Stays Pvt., the operator of Oyo, Byju's, and PharmEasy's API Holdings Pvt. have all put their IPO plans on hold amid an uncertain listing environment.
