Japanese internet giant and a major stakeholder in Ola Cabs, ‘Softbank’ has said, “the relationship with Ola’s co-founder and CEO, Bhavish Aggarwal is open and transparent with Bhavish Aggarwal.”
In an interview to Times of India, Sumer Juneja, partner, and India head, SoftBank Vision Fund said, “I have joined the Ola board this year. but I must say that the relationship between Bhavish and SoftBank is very open and transparent.”
“Yes, there might be the differences in the past, but SoftBank is always an entrepreneur-first, and the capital commitment to the Ola Electric speaks the volumes,” Sumer, who replace the David Thevenon as the board of Ola said to TOI.
“The statement from the SoftBank has come as the relationship with the Bhavish Aggarwal has been strained since 2017 when SoftBank invested in Uber, one of the major rival of Ola Cabs in India.”
However, to relax the partnership with Bhavish, SoftBank Vision Fund, invested $250 million in Ola Electric Mobility a venture of Ola Cabs.
“The conflict between the SoftBank and Bhavish came in 2017, and to which Bhavish amended the company constitution and took several measures to tighten the control in the company. especially by stopping the SoftBank from increasing its stake in the company who currently hold 31 percent till 2016,” according to the paper noted.
However, it has diluted 22 percent so far, and has raised the new funding from the investors like Sachin Bansal Co-Founder and CEO of Flipkart, Auto manufacturing giant Hyundai, and Tencent.”
Commenting more on the partnership, Sumer said, “We are proud to be associated with Ola and Bhavish, and we would like to see the company reach even bigger heights.” Who is building a full-fledged team for dozen of professionals including operating partners besides legal and finance experts, by the end of 2019.