Travel

Problems continue to pile up at Ola. Early backer Vanguard has marked down the ride-hailing giant’s valuation to about $70 Mn on its books, a near-total collapse from the $7 Bn in 2021. With losses widening and market share eroding, can Ola make a comeback? The Valuation Reset: The latest markdown underscores how far Ola has fallen. Vanguard, which first backed the company in 2015, now values its holding in Ola at about $728K. This is the latest in a series of valuation cuts by Vanguard, which valued the startup at $1.88 Bn in early 2024 and $1.25 Bn in May 2025.  The move does not set Ola’s market price, but it is a strong signal of how investors view the company’s future. Ola’s Financial Strain: The operational picture is not helping. Ola Consumer’s losses more than doubled YoY to ₹662 Cr in FY25, while operating revenue tanked to ₹1,171 Cr. Its accumulated losses stood ₹21,000 Cr at the end of March 2025, along with debt obligations of over ₹586 Cr. The startup says it still has liquidity to meet the obligations, but the cash burn suggests that it is under pressure to preserve its runway. Tightening Rivalry: The mark down comes as the company is struggling to maintain its dominance in the ride-hailing market. Once seen as India’s main ride-hailing player, Ola has been pushed back by a faster-moving market. Uber remains a major rival, but Rapido has emerged as the more disruptive force, overtaking the Bhavish Aggarwal-led startup in market share.    The IPO Question: The timing makes the valuation cut especially awkward. Ola has already begun IPO preparations. But, as Moody’s flagged in November last year, weak operating performance, higher-than-expected cash burn and the risk of covenant breach have put the startup on the backfoot.  With the ride-hailing giant slated to go all out to convince public investors, here is all about Vanguard marking down Ola…

Listed traveltech giant ixigo’s board has approved to acquire 54.66% stake in traveltech startup Brevistay (Brevistay Hospitality Pvt Ltd) for a ₹65.69 Cr ($6.9 Mn) through a combination of secondary and primary share purchase deals. Post the acquisition, ixigo said Brevistay will become a subsidiary of the traveltech platform. The company will also get the right to purchase the remaining stake in the future subject to fulfilment of certain conditions. Its turnover for the fiscal year FY26 zoomed 48% YoY to ₹18.1 Cr. Previously, the startup’s institutional funding was led by the Indian Angel Network (IAN), which invested ₹3 Cr in Brevistay’s 2022 seed round.  Competing with the likes of Zostel and OYO, Brevistay allows users to book hotel rooms on an hourly basis (slots of 3, 6, or 12 hours) rather than paying for a full 24-hour stay. It operates in over 200 cities, including major hubs like Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. ixigo aims to strengthen its online hotel booking business via the acquisition of Brevistay. The investment is set to be completed on or before July 31. Founded in 2016 by Prateek Singh, Nikhil Pathak, Aditya Naithani and Shubham Agarwal, Brevistay provides an online platform for its users to book hotel rooms for flexible durations. Additionally, ixigo’s board also approved two more investments, which will be completed by July 5: ProactAI – ixigo will subscribe for 2,394 compulsorily convertible preference shares (CCPS) for a total consideration of ₹7.5 Cr. Founded in 2024, ProctAI is building a vertical foundational model for person re-identification and object tracking. Vestra.AI – ixigo will subscribe to 450K 0.01% fully convertible debentures (“FCDs”) having a face value of ₹100 each, taking the deal size to ₹4.5 Cr. The investment will help Vestra.AI to accelerate the research and development of its AI-powered software and related technologies. This adds on to ixigo’s acquisition spree this year. Earlier, the company bought 60% stake in Trenes for €11.7 Mn (about ₹125 Cr), and 45.02% stake in Sqaas for €450K (₹4.8 Cr) in March.   On the financial front, the OTA’s consolidated net profit for the fourth quarter of FY26 zoomed 91% to ₹32.1 Cr from ₹16.8 Cr in the previous year quarter. Operating revenue increased 9% to ₹308 Cr in Q4 FY26 from ₹284.1 Cr in the year-ago quarter. During its fourth quarter results, the management said ixigo remains open to further acquisitions while continuing to invest in AI infrastructure, hotels and adjacent travel categories. Shares of ixigo ended the day 1.6% higher at ₹155.45 apiece on the BSE.

In the summer of 2021, Bhavish Aggarwal was arguably India’s most audacious tech entrepreneur.  Ola Cabs (now Ola Consumer), the ride-hailing behemoth he had founded along with a fellow IIT Bombay engineer Ankit Bhati in 2010, commanded a healthy market share in India’s ride-hailing sector.  Backed by SoftBank, Tiger Global and Temasek, it raised $139 Mn at a valuation of $7.3 Bn in late 2021, perhaps the last major round in what was the peak year of funding for Indian startups. And that’s before the big push with Ola Electric that followed in the next few years. Aggarwal was somewhere near his peak as an entrepreneur in 2020 and 2021.  What has followed over the next five years is a cautionary tale.  On June 3, 2026, Vanguard, one of the world’s largest asset managers and an early Ola Cabs investor marked down the value of its investment, and valued the company at just $70 Mn. From the $7.3 Bn peak, Ola’s valuation has seen a 90%-plus haircut. And when considering that last year, Vanguard’s valuation estimate for Ola Cabs was around $1.25 Bn, one can only surmise that it has been a bleak year for Ola. When Ola Cabs Stopped Being the Point Those close to the company say the beginning of the end started in late 2018 when Aggarwal’s focus shifted to Ola Electric. This was surprising because Ola’s dominance in the market was real, and Uber India was spending heavily to eat Ola’s market share.  And then, according to multiple industry insiders, Aggarwal began to disengage. He believed that EVs would define the future of Indian mobility.  Ola saw the departure of the CFO, the chief business officer, and eventually its CEO Hemant Bakish, who quit in April 2024, with Aggarwal stepping in to run the business directly.