//
The Mumbai-based company is raising a total of US$500 million from this round of investment
Ola’s Co-founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal
Japanese telecom and Internet giant SoftBank is looking to invest up to US$300 million in Indian cab-hailing leader Ola, according to a report by The Economic Times.
The Mumbai-based company is raising a total of US$500 million from this round of funding, which can stretch up to US$700 million as more investors have showed interest in investing in it, said the report citing two unidentified sources.
The round is expected to close within a few days, according one source. SoftBank is willing to infuse more money, however Ola is not interested in diluting too much stake.
Post-deal, Ola’s current valuation of US$5 billion will remain flat, according to this report.
Ola, which is still the numero uno in the Indian cab-hailing industry, is pitted against world’s number one company Uber. The new funding infusion will help Ola to raise the game against the San Francisco-headquartered company, which is currently valued at US$15 billion.
Ever since its entry into the market by the end of 2014, Uber — with a cash reserve of US$8.7 billion till date — has been fighting a long battle against Ola and has seized a significant marketshare in the country. The battle even reached the Court when the companies accused each other of flouting rules and questioned the nationality of each other.
Ola, founded in Jan 2011 by IIT Bombay alumni Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, is an online cabs and auto rickshaw booking platform. Using the Ola app, users across 100 cities can book from over 100,000 vehicles. The Ola app is currently available on Windows, Android and iOS platforms.
A year ago, Ola raised US$500 million in its Series F round of funding, led by UK-based investment firm Baillie Gifford. Existing investors Falcon Edge Capital, Tiger Global, SoftBank Group, and DST Global, besides Chinese mobile transportation giant Didi Kuaidi, had also participated.
Last December, Leading on-demand taxi hailing companies Didi Kuaidi, Ola, Lyft and GrabTaxi joined forces to give global giant Uber a run for its money. Under this partnership, the four taxi-hailing leaders would enable international travellers to access local on-demand rides by using the same application they use in their respective countries. Through this, the firms aimed cover a major part of Southeast Asia, India, China and the US, starting in the first quarter of 2016.
Three months back, Ola fired around 700-1,000 employees and shut down TaxiForSure, which it had snapped for US$200 million in March last year. The move was aimed at tightening its purse strings, as the company intended to dominate the India market.
The post Ola to raise up to US$300M from SoftBank to give Uber a run for its money in India appeared first on e27.
from e27 http://ift.tt/2e31Qfc