Ola has acquired TaxiForSure for $200mn. Started in June 2011, TaxiForSure is present across 47 cities in India, with a fleet size of over 15,000 drivers clocking over 5 million rides.
For a 4-year-old company, $200mn of cash and equity is a pretty good deal – and while some of you might be wondering why TaxiForSure took the Ola ride so early in the game, these activities are bound to happen in a growing startup ecosystem. Given the rush in consumer startup space, expect more consolidation driven by investors.
Here is the percentage holding pattern of TaxiForSure. Few quick observations:
– The two founders each own 8% of the company – which is (almost) on the lower side for a consumer company which has raised Series C round. In fact, TaxiForSure in my opinion was a bit late in the subsequent fund raising game.
Ola too raised ~$40mn in Series C, but was quick to raise Series D round (massive $210mn) within few months of the Series C. Speed mattered, in this case. The Series D money helped Ola win more customers and importantly, TaxiForSure drivers/inventory as well.
– Accel is a clear winner here: they own 36% of the company (between the two funds across two rounds). Accel continues to bet on winners and my guess is that they repented not investing in Ola.
– Blume owns only 1.8%. Hmm (qn : Is micro-investing fun?)
| Name | Percentage Holding |
| Raghunandan G | 8.1 |
| Aprameya R | 8.1 |
| Helion II | 24.3 |
| Accel India III | 24.3 |
| Multiple Sector Seed Capital Fund (Blume) | 1.8 |
| Bessemer Holding II | 20.0 |
| Faktory Ventures | 0.3 |
| Accel Growth III | 12.7 |
| Ramprasad Shastry | 0.2 |
| Prakash Bettadpur | 0.1 |
| Basavaraj Ullaguddi | 0.1 |
Given that the $200mn outlay is a mix of cash and equity, I am guessing that TFS founders were largely dealt in ca$h (and equity is reserved for the investors), which amounts to almost 100 crores per founder, which is A DAMN good deal (unless you were born with $ilver $poon$).
In the growing Indian startup ecosystem, we need a mix of long and short term success stories and TaxiForSure is one of them.
What does Ola gain? Apart from TaxiForSure’s inventory and city presence, a muscle power to raise a big round – they are raising $500mn at more than $2Bn+ valuation (which I am sure will now go for 1.5X multiple); and this acquisition just reinforces that they are the numer-uno and a serious threat to Uber’s growing global ambition (read : How Softbank is creating an anti-Uber army of startups).
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