Representational image of Ola cabs (Photo| PTI)
Representational image of Ola cabs (Photo| PTI)

Covid hits Ola valuation at USD 500-million fund raise

The Bengaluru-headquartered firm said that the current fundraise comes ahead of its IPO without disclosing the timeline of when the company will list on stock exchanges.

BENGALURU:  Ride-hailing giant Ola on Friday announced raising $500 million from new investors Singapore based Temsek holdings and an affiliate of global private equity firm, Warburg Pincus, ahead of its public listing. The fresh investment comes after a gap of two years when Ola had raised $150 million in a Series J financing round and was valued at over $5 billion. Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal has also participated in the fresh funds raise, which reportedly is a secondary share sale with early investors including Tiger Global, Matrix Partners reducing their stakes.

The Bengaluru-headquartered firm said that the current fundraise comes ahead of its IPO without disclosing the timeline of when the company will list on stock exchanges. With other startups having almost tripled their valuations for their public issues, Ola has steered away from announcing its current worth, especially when the revenues have been on a constant decline since the onset of the pandemic. 

Sources told TNIE that the current funds raise may have come at a $500 million lesser valuation than the financing round, signaling that the businesses are yet to recover completely. “Over the last 12 months we’ve made our ride-hailing business more robust, resilient and efficient. With strong recovery post-lockdown and a shift in consumer preference away from public transportation, we are well-positioned to capitalise on the various urban mobility needs of our customers,” Agarwal said in a statement.

The company earlier said that its revenues witnessed a steep 90% decline during the first wave of Covid last year as lockdowns restrictions hit the shared mobility sector. However, post easing of lockdowns, Ola had said that it saw recovery in auto rides business although cab-sharing remained affected with many companies continuing to opt for work from home for its employees.

Ola’s biggest investor Softbank, which has a 23% stake in the firm, has poured in $500 million in Ola Electric, which was spun off from Ola in 2019 with Aggarwal’s focus on building the electric scooters for Indian markets gaining steam. Ola chief has also announced his plans of launching the EV scooter later this year.

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