As companies on the market looking for fresh funds, cab hailing company Ola and e-tailer Snapdeal have just just been dealt a big setback. Japanese investor Softbank Group has reportedly written down about $555 million (¥58.1 billion) as losses in the two companies.
In its half yearly numbers ending Sept 30, Softbank reported a loss of ¥58.1 billion in financial instruments that mark the investments in the two companies, compared to a net income of ¥112.6 billion in the same period, reported Mint.
For the quarter ending September, SoftBank reported a net profit of ¥512 billion, up from ¥213 billion in the same period a year ago, helped in part by its stake sale in Alibaba Group.
Both Ola and Snapdeal are trying to raise funds to take on increasing competition, with the former seeking up to $300 million in new funds, according to Mint.
Ola, which is backed by Tiger Global Management, SoftBank Group, Didi Chuxing among others, is looking for funds to face-off with Uber which is pumping more money into the Indian market. While Snapdeal is facing heat from rivals Flipkart and Amazon, which is investing heavily into India and in race to become India's top e-retailer.