last year tiger global the new yorkbased investment fund which owns large chunks in indias top internet companies was keen on partially selling its shares in the ridehailing major ola and cash out the buyer would have been the most influential technology investor globally softbank the two parties were negotiating the deal without the consent of olas goforbroke cofounder ceo bhavish aggarwal the proposed secondary share sale by tiger global would have given softbank which currently holds a little less than 30 stake in the transportation startup a stronger control over the company advt even as tigers secretive partner lee fixel who was not till long ago tagged as the most fervent proponent of the indian consumer internet story pursued softbank aggarwal resisted helped by a right that gives the ola founders the power to veto the transfer of shares among two investors aggarwal went ahead and blocked the transaction in fact the 33yearold is now working towards creating a special purpose vehicle or spv which would have separate legal rights to facilitate a secondary sale of shares at the cab aggregatorthis is the first time olas early investors would be selling their shares to other entities and aggarwal wants to own the highest voting rights even as a minority shareholder to avert any situation where shares change hands without the founders goahead his moves come on the back of a possible merger that softbank may want to pull off between ola and uber where it holds a stake of more than 15softbanks dominant position in indian startupswhat has been playing out at ola isnt unique to the ridehailing venture but has affected in some way most of softbanks portfolio companies where it owns a significant shareholdingonline grocery delivery startup grofers which had a tough run starting 2016 in the backdrop of the ondemand category seeing a slump recently raised 60 million in a funding round led by existing investors with the exception of its first institutional backer sequoia capital softbank made sure the rights favour the japanese group and give it a dominant position on the companys capitalisation table and in the event of the sale of the startup a cap table is a record of all the major shareholders and how much they stack up in their ownership of equity shares preferred shares and options and the price they paid for it advt softbank which controls around 35 in grofers struck the deal in a way that gave preferential rights to investors in the latest round of funding tiger global and yuri milner the dst global founder ponied up while sequoia opted out in a classic paytoplay situation the investors in the last fundraise also ended up getting a significant say in matters related to sale of the company which can no longer be blocked by its founders grofers closed its latest financing valuing it at 260 million premoney which was a down round thats when a startup is valued lower than