Olacabs close to raising $400M from DST Global, others

Mumbai-based ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd, which runs an online marketplace for cabs and car rental services under the brand Olacabs, is in talks to raise $400 million (around Rs 2,500 crore) from Russian investment firm DST Global with participation from its existing investors, sources familiar with the development told Techcircle.in.

Techcircle.in had first reported that Ola is raising a large round of around $500 million. Subsequently The Times of India reported that DST Global is in talks for the same funding round.

The deal is at the final stage and undergoing legal formalities and diligence to be closed as soon as a week.

This comes less than a month after Ola acquired TaxiForSure for $200 million (Rs 1,240 crore) in a cash-and-stock deal.

Emails sent to Ola and DST Global didn't elicit an immediate response.

Founded in January 2011 by IIT Bombay alumni Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, Ola provides point-to-point services within the city, hour-based rental services and bookings for outstation travel.

It has a network of 70,000 cabs and 30,000 autos, in addition to about 15,000 cabs on the TaxiForSure network.

So far, the company has raised $277 million from Tiger Global Management, Sequoia Capital, SoftBank, Hong Kong-based Steadview Capital and US-based Matrix Partners, among others. In October 2014, Ola raised $210 million in a funding round led by SoftBank.

DST Global invests in fast-growing tech companies. It had pumped in $210 million in Flipkart in May 2014.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)