The Bangalore-headquartered startup said in a brief statement on Friday that Temasek and Warburg Pinkas were investing $500 million in Ola, an approved Indian ride-hailing giant. Ola co-founder and CEO Bhavish Agarwal are also taking part in the new investment, the source said. This is the first time that Softbank-backed Ola, which leads the Indian market, has raised its Series J financing for nearly two years, according to Insights Platform Traxon, according to Insights Platform Traxon. Ola said in a statement that the investment came “before the IPO” – but did not elaborate. (Startup has since stated that it has not finalized its IPO time).
Ola, Temasek, and Warburg Pincas did not share how the start of rival Ride-Hailing with India’s Uber paid off for new investments. Olar was valued at less than $5 billion in the previous round of funding. Ola Electric, an EV business that spread beyond Ola in 2019, is also on the market to raise money, TechCrunch said earlier this week. The Ancorny startup will soon begin production of its electric scooters, OGRA electrical supervisor Agarwal said recently.
Mobility firms are most affected by the coronavirus epidemic. But in recent months, more Indian states have begun to pick up speed again as they relaxed lockdown restrictions. According to mobile insight firm App Annie, Olar had about 32 million monthly active users of Android in India in June, up from about 26 million in May. Uber had about 22 million Android users in India in June, up from 18 million in May.
Aggarwal said in a statement, “Over the last 12 months, we have made our ride-healing business stronger, more resilient, and more efficient. With powerful recovery post-lockdowns and shifting consumer preferences away from public transportation, we are able to thoroughly present our customers ’different urban travel needs. I welcome Warburg Pincas and Temasek to Ober and look forward to working with them in the next phase of our growth.” Ola, which operates in more than 100 cities in India and has amassed one million driving partners on its platform, has also expanded to several international markets over the past decade, including Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.
