To strengthen its position in the market and fight off the global leader Uber in India, Ola is in the process of raising around ₹13,000 crore ($2 billion) in new funding from a group of investors.
The investors who participated in this round include SoftBank Group Corp, Tencent Holdings Ltd, and a few other US-based investors. The company’s valuation after the financing wasn’t immediately clear.
Earlier today, it was also reported that Ola has finalized a $400 million investment from Tencent and the deal is awaiting approval from CCI. The investment values the cab-hailing startup at around ₹25,000 crore ($3.8 billion).
The new capital coming to the company will help Ola continue its focus on India and build both its supply of vehicles and drivers as well as strategic technology to help it win against Uber. The new funding round will also help the company in expanding its operations to other regions. Earlier, we reported that Ola is looking to expand to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
A person aware of the development has said that the funding round isn’t finished yet and the amount could change.
If this funding round goes through, it will be marked as the second-largest funding round in an Indian start-up, after Flipkart’s. SoftBank Vision Fund and Tencent invested a massive amount of around ₹16,000 crore in the eCommerce platform.
The Ola funding round already has participation from one of SoftBank’s investment arms, SIMI Holdings Inc. It is not yet clear if SoftBank Vision Fund would participate or not. Interestingly, the development comes at a time when SoftBank is considering a multibillion-dollar investment in Uber.
Since November last year, the company has raised over ₹5,025 crore ($800 million). Apart from SoftBank and Tencent, Ola has also raised funding from Tiger Global Management, DST Global, Accel and Sequoia Capital, among others.