ANI Technologies owned and operated platform Ola is in talks to invest in Pune based carpooling app sRide as per the sources.
The discussions which are in initial stage, could see Ola picking up a stake of around 26% or more in the three years old sRide. It is speculated that SoftBank backed Ola could potentially invest around ₹30 crore in sRide, at a valuation of ₹100- 150 crore.
This is likely to be the first institutional capital raised by sRide, which has been primarily bootstrapped since inception. According to data on the company on Crunchbase, sRide had raised about ₹7 crore ($1 million) in angel funding in 2016.
sRide is an instant on the go carpooling platform to help people going in the same direction connect with each other. Lakshna Chadha, Founder and CEO of sRide launched the platform in Pune in April 2015. sRide helps in connecting people with each other thus increasing the utilization of cars, reducing traffic on the roads and carbon footprints and also helps people socialize while commuting. It’s Facebook of transportation + LinkedIn on the go.
The company has tied up with leading corporates like TCS, Infosys, Wipro, MasterCard and Capgemini. “Our vision is that sRide is used in every BIG city, small city and every village of India as an alternative transportation”, quoted Founder Lakshna Chadha Jha.