Cab hailing major Ola is in talks to acquire a significant stake of 26 per cent in Pune-based carpooling app sRide. Ola is reportedly investing Rs 30 crore in sRide that may take the valuation of the four-year-old startup in the range of Rs 100-150 crore.
Ola’s bet on sRide would be the first institutional round for the bootstrapped startup that may be joined by some of the top venture capital firms, reports ET.
A brainchild of Lakshna Chadha Jha and Nitin Chadha, sRide is operational in Pune, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, and Bengaluru.
The startup offers a convenient one-to-one deal between the driver and the person availing the ride that starts from just at Rs 3/km.
Primarily focused on corporate employees, sRide has tied up with a number of leading companies such as Tata Consultancy Services, Tech Mahindra, Cognizant, Infosys, Wipro, MasterCard, and Capgemini.
So far, sRide has raised about $1 million in seed and angel funding rounds.
For Ola, the investment seems to be a serious approach in the intracity ride-sharing business where it already operates as ‘Ola Share’. Besides, it also piloted Ola Share Express – one of the most cost-effective rides for customers.
The company’s carpooling business has been highly contested by arch-rival Uber that also offers cost-effective ridesharing option under Uber Pool. The US-based company is coming soon with Express Pool, a service similar to Ola’s Share Express.
Apart from the aforementioned players, Quick Ride, Meru, and BlaBlaCar also offer carpooling service.
