The parent company of Ola cabs, a tech company that partners up with drivers to offer cabbing services, ANI Technologies has given the green light to acquire Avail Finance. Both parties have verbally agreed all the specifics and will put pen to paper by the end of the month.
Avail Finance is a Bangalore based fintech start-up that provides short term loans to people who are not able to sanction loans from other larger lending banks. They call themselves a neo-bank and they look to revolutionize the finance and fund lending industries.
The company, founded in 2017, has up to date received a total funding of $38.5 million USD and is valued at $86.6 million USD as of September, 2021 but that number is set to shoot up now, they will be acquired by Ola and ANI Technologies.
Mr. Ankush Agarwal, who co-founded ANI Technologies is the brother of Bhavish Agarwal who founded and is the chief executive officer of Ola cabs.
It has been announced that stock swap transaction has been decided on. The entire deal is set to be worth around $50 million USD. Both siblings are co-directors of Goddard Technical Solutions which handles all the operations of ANI Technologies.
Due to their private and professional relationship, this deal has been coined as a related party transaction. This refers to any deal or acquisition that has been struck which benefits both parties due to their existing professional relationship or shared motives.
All venture capitalists and others with a direct vested interest in the parent company, ANI Technologies have been informed of the upcoming deal by Mr. Ankush Agarwal according to various sources close to the co-founder.
He is also set to take up a new role at Ola Financial Services which is a fintech service on the Ola application. It is considered to be registered, non-banking financial company (NBFC). The service offers either secure or unsecure loans to their customers. Mr. Ankush Agarwal will be heading this part of the company due to wide knowledge and experience in the financial technology industry.
Ankush Agarwal currently owns 26% of ANI Technology’s stock but that number is set to rise once the deal is finalized.
It seems like OLA is entering the fintech world bit by bit as they are slowly distancing themselves as merely a cabbing service provider as They slowly rebrand themselves as a full fledged financial technology firm as they head into a more digital world.
