$250 Million may deal out by Olacabs for TaxiForSure

In what might end up to be the primary massive consolidation move within the tech-backed cab services market, Bengaluru-based Olacabs is near shopping for out cross-town rival TaxiForSure for associate degree calculable $200-250 million, The deal, a mixture of money and stock, is already sealed and a proper announcement to the present result may be created within the next few weeks, the sources aforementioned. Backed by Japan ' s Soft Bank, Ola ' s acquisition of the four-year-old start up can create the combined entity a transparent leader in India ' s invasive cab aggregation market, giving it a major leg up over Uber. The deal, once it goes through, will be the largest M& A within the red-hot shopper web sector when flipkart $330-million acquisition of fashion e-tailer Myntra last year, 1st according by this newspaper. Myriad investors have lined up to urge a slice of India ' s digital story, backed by the explosive growth of mobile web, that saw additional the $4 billion in capitalist cash being funneled into early and late stage start-ups. TaxiForSure, that has raised quite $60 million from risk investors, had been reconnoitering for recent capital however opted for an entire sale. The present investors conjointly most well-liked a consolidation deal in an exceedingly cash-guzzling sector with raging fare wars. TaxiForSure ' s investors, that embraces the likes of geographic region funds Accel Partners and artificer Venture Partners, among others, might get writing paper stocks post the acquisition. The deal would produce a neighborhood cab services major valued at over $2 billion and can strengthen Ola ' s future fund-raising plans. TaxiForSure, like its peers, doesn ' t own its fleet of cars. The asset-light strategy merely connects riders to drivers by having taxi operators on its platform. TaxiForSure ' s co-founder Raghunandan G aforementioned he couldn ' t treat the story at the instant whereas associate degree email question sent to Ola ' s co-founder & chief executive officer Bhavish Aggarwal remained unrequited at the time of progressing to press. TaxiForSure was supported by IIM-Ahmedabad alumni Aprameya Radhakrishna and Raghunandan as a marketplace for taxi operators in June 2011. A supply near the event aforementioned on condition of obscurity that TaxiForSure had sent out feelers to Uber also as radio taxi operators Meru and Carzonrent. To keep itself afloat, TaxiForSure had raised a bridge spherical of $20 million from its existing investors, the source added. Over the past couple of months, cab aggregates have been buffeted by regulatory issues in the aftermath of the rape of a female passenger by an Uber driver in Delhi. Uber, valued at $40 billion, has seen its growth stall in the past two months after the incident. The San Francisco-based start up has made aggressive strides into Asia ' s third largest economy by doling out discounts as it launched in 11 cities in a year. Japan ' s Soft Bank, which led a $210-million investment round last year in Ola valuing the taxi aggregate at about $600 million (pre-investment), has emerged as the biggest challenger to Uber outside of the US. After Ola, Masayoshi Son-led SoftBank invested $250 million in GrabTaxi inSoutheast Asia and $600 million in China ' s Kuadi Dache, signalling its bullishness around on-demand transportation apps