Ola Cabs is gearing up to acquire TaxiForSure, according to a report from the Times Of India. The deal between the two online taxi aggregators is estimated between $200-$250 million as per the report.
The report said that Ola Cabs will pay cash and offer stock for the TaxiForSure acquisition. If the deal is a success, it will be the second largest one after Flipkart bought Myntra for $370 last year. The latest M&A between two taxi aggregators is a move to take on recent foreign entry Uber which started its Indian foray with a bang but has been suffering due to recent events involving rape allegations in December. In addition, the report stated that the acquisition is also aimed at reducing the cost.
Backed by Japan’s SoftBank, Ola Cabs is valued at $2 billion. TaxiForSure earlier raised $40mn in Series C funding from Accel, Helion and Bessemer, while Ola recently raised $210mn in Series D led by Softbank. A person familiar with the deal said that TaxiForSure held discussions with Carzonrent and Uber before finalizing the deal with Ola, added the report.
It must be noted that neither of the companies have made the acquisition official yet.