Venture capital firm Sequoia Capital on Wednesday sold a nearly 1% stake in local search engine Just Dial Ltd, data from stock exchanges showed.
Based on Wednesday’s closing price on BSE, the shares were worth around Rs35 crore.
Sequoia Capital sold a total of 636,349 shares of the local search engine, bringing down its shareholding in the firm to 3.16% from 4.11%.
Sequoia Capital started selling its stake in Just Dial in the third quarter of the current calendar year. On 5 September, Sequoia Capital sold a total of 3.6 million Just Dial shares worth approximately Rs135 crore, thereby bringing down its shareholding by 5.17% to 4.11%.
In 2016, Sequoia Capital sold shares worth around Rs60 crore, while in 2015, it offloaded stake worth about Rs1,218 crore in Just Dial, according to data compiled by Venture Intelligence, a research service focused on private company financials, transactions and valuations. Sequoia Capital first invested in Just Dial in 2009.
Sequoia, along with venture capital firm SAIF Partners and Tiger Global made a investment of Rs16.44 crore in the company in 2009.
In 2012, Sequoia invested Rs60 crore along with venture capital firm Sapphire Ventures. Subsequently in 2012, Sequoia made its third investment of Rs305 crore in Just Dial.
Tiger Global made a complete exit from Just Dial in 2015, data from Venture Intelligence shows.
Founded by V.S.S. Mani, Just Dial has been offering local search services since 1996 under the Just Dial brand.
Just Dial’s search service bridges the gap between users and businesses by helping users find relevant providers of products and services quickly, while helping businesses listed in Just Dial’s database to market their offerings.
Just Dial posted revenue of Rs718.61 crore in fiscal 2017, up 4% from the previous fiscal, while its net profit declined by 14% in fiscal 2017 to Rs121.34 crore.
On Wednesday, shares of Just Dial lost 1.7% or Rs9.15, to close at Rs527.6 on BSE.
The benchmark Sensex gained 0.25% or 83.2 points to close at 33,561.55 points.
Source: Mint