Asset management company Vanguard has marked down the fair value of Ola’s parent ANI Technologies by 29% to $1.88 billion. Regulatory filings reveal the markdown comes nearly two months after Vanguard pruned the fair value of the ride-hailing platform to approximately $2.65 billion. Vanguard holds 166,185 shares of ANI Technologies, translating into a stake of around 0.7 %, according to Tracxn.
Vanguard had lowered the fair value of its stake in ANI Technologies by 35% to $4.8 billion in February last year, followed by another 52% reduction to $3.5 billion in July. The Bhavish Agarwal-promoted ANI Technologies was valued at $7.3 billion when it raised $139 million from IIFL, Edelweiss PE and other investors in December 2021.
While a mark down by Vanguard may not necessarily prompt other investors to pare the value of their holdings in ANI Technologies, it is a fact that the prolonged funding winter has seen valuations of several businesses, including those of Meesho, Pine Labs and Udaan, being cut.
Investors have been very cautious about their bets, despite the fact they are sitting on some $18 billion of dry powder. They have been prodding their investee companies to become more rooted and focus more on profitability rather than growth and “vanity metrics”. Many have been paring the values of their stakes to reflect the reality on the ground.
The total investment received by Indian startups in 2023 was $8.3 billion, down 67% over the $25.6 billion received in 2022, according to data provided by Tracxn. Last year saw just two unicorns being created compared with 71 in 2022. The number of new additions to the soonicorns club fell by 68%.
Last month, Hemant Bakshi, a former Unilever executive, was appointed CEO of Ola Cabs as Bhavish Aggarwal has stepped down from the role as the company streamlines operations. Bakshi had said at the company’s annual media briefing last month that the penetration in India for the online ride-hailing business is only at about 8%.
ANI Technologies, which operates under the Ola brand, narrowed its consolidated net losses to Rs 772.25 crore in FY23, according to a regulatory filing. The company posted a consolidated loss of Rs 1,522.33 crore in the previous financial year.
The consolidated revenue from operations went up by about 48% to Rs 2,481 crore in FY23 from Rs 1,680 crore in FY22. The standalone losses narrowed to Rs 1,082 crore in FY23, down from Rs 3,082 in FY22. The ride-hailing platform’s sales jumped 63% to Rs 1,987 crore in FY23.
