American investor Vanguard Group has slashed ride-hailing major Ola’s valuation by 35 per cent to $4.8 billion as compared to its peak $7.3 billion valuation.
Vanguard holds 1,85,355 shares in ANI Technologies through two funds including Vanguard Variable Insurance Funds and Vanguard World Fund. Overall, Vanguard’s share in Ola is less than 1 per cent, according to an SEC filing.
Ola last raised a $139 million funding round in December 2021 at a valuation of $7.3 billion. This development comes at a time when multiple start-up unicorns have seen a drop in valuations.
Other valuation cuts
US-based investor Invesco has also cut food delivery major Swiggy’s valuation to $5.5 billion in January 2023 from its last valuation of $10.7 billion in January 2022. Also in March 2023, Invesco slashed Swiggy’s valuation to $8-billion. Invesco had led a $700-million funding round in Swiggy in January 2022.
Similarly, Prosus, too, pegged BJYU’s valuation at $6 billion in November 2022. BJYU’s raised its last funding round at a valuation of $22 billion. In late 2022, Oyo’s valuation was also slashed from $10 billion to $2.7 billion by Japanese conglomerate, SoftBank.
In FY21, Ola reported its first operating profit of ₹89.82 crore, although its revenue saw a decline of 65 per cent to ₹689.61 crore. The company recorded a standalone operating profit (profit before finance cost, depreciation, amortisation, and tax (EBITDA)) of ₹89.82 crore in FY21, and a loss of ₹610.18 crore in FY20.