Vanguard slashes Ola valuation by 60%-plus; NB reduces Pharmeasy’s by over 90%

The U.S. index fund pioneer Vanguard has cut the worth of its holding in the Indian ride-hailing startup Ola by nearly two thirds since original investment, and Neuberger Berman has slashed the worth of its Pharmeasy shares by more than 90%, according to an analysis of the funds’ filings.

Vanguard cut the worth of its shares in Ani Technologies, Ola’s holding firm, by 63.7% at August closure, it disclosed in its annual report. The asset manager marked down the holding of its Ola shares to $18.75 million, from the $51.7 million purchase price years ago, the filings showed.

The cut in worth of Ola shares’ by Vanguard implies a reduction in the ride-hailing startup’s valuation to approximately $2.65 billion, down from $7.3 billion at the close of 2021. (Vanguard had valued its Ola’s shares at about $33.8 million at the end of February this year and $25 million at the end of May.)

Ola, founded over a decade ago, has raised more than $3.9 billion over the years, according to Crunchbase, PitchBook and Tracxn. It was valued at $3.5 billion in an equity financing round in early 2017.

Ola declined to comment.

Neuberger Berman, on the other hand, valued its holding of Pharmeasy shares, which it purchased in October 2021 for $8.8 million, at $823,432 as of the end of August, it revealed in a disclosure.

The adjustment asserts a valuation of about $550 million to Pharmeasy, a startup that was valued at $5.6 billion in the second half of 2021 and has raised over $1.5 billion against equity and in debt to date, according to Tracxn.

“Individual detractors included India’s API Holdings, the largest Indian online digital healthcare platform, which declined in value on news that the firm may offer more equity at a lower price,” Neuberger Berman wrote in its annual report.

API Holdings, the parent firm of Pharmeasy, recently raised $420 million via rights issue that rocked the startup’s valuation to below $600 million amid deadlines to repay debt to Goldman Sachs.

“Every single shareholder stood up and supported us, believed in our vision and saw value in what the team at API is building,” wrote Dhaval Shah, co-founder of API Holdings, in a LinkedIn post last week.

Pharmeasy didn’t respond to a request for comment.