Cab aggregator Ola raises USD 1.1 billion from venture funds

“Our investors like SoftBank and other US-based financial investors have participated in this round of funding,” said the company. Ola is also in talks with other investors to raise an additional $1 billion with new and existing investors. Ola operates in 110 cities across the country using cars, auto-rickshaws, bikes and vehicles equipped with connected car platform for ride-sharing.

But the six-yearold mobile-app hailing taxi aggregator did not disclose in the statement which funding round is the latest and how much it had raised cumulatively so far, from whom all and when, with break-up. An Ola spokesperson, however, said later that the company had raised $500 million in November 2015 from investment management firm Baillie Gifford, China’s largest taxi-hailing services firm Didi Kuaidi and its investors Falcon Edge Capital, SoftBank, DST Glob and Tiger Global. 

Ola will also benefit from Tencent’s expertise in the country’s mobility market. Then Mumbai-based Ola expanded its operations in March 2015 by acquiring the city-based TaxiForSure competitor for $200 million (Rs 1,200 crore) in a cash-cum-stock deal. “We will invest the fresh funding in supply, technology and innovations to build the country’s growing transportation needs,” said Ola co-founder and Chief Executive Bhavish Aggarwal. 

The company will also use artificial intelligence and machine learning to solve the country’s mobility problems and offer affordable transportation. IIT-Bombay alumni Ankit Bhatia joined Aggarwal in co-founding Ola cabs in January 2011 in Mumbai as a mobile app for personal commuting in cities. The company has about 800,000 vehicles for booking online on its platform in 110 cities across the country to commute on individual or shared basis.