Ola finds fresh funds to take the fight to Uber In recent past, the car service provider has also announced to raise an undisclosed amount of funding from Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata.
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Mumbai-based cab service provider Ola Cabs has announced to secure $225 million in a fresh round of funding led by existing investor Falcon Edge Capital, with participation from New York-based hedge fund and its existing investors Tiger Global Management LLC and Softbank Corp along with six other investors. Prior to this, Ola closed another $400 million in month of April led by DST Global, a Russian billionaire Yuri Milner's investment firm.
As per the documents filed by the company with RoC (Registrar of Companies), Falcon Edge has invested around $78 million, and Tiger Global and Soft Bank have invested $60 million and $58 million respectively in the current round of funding. Other existing investors like Steadview Capital, the Hong Kong-based hedge fund; Pittsburgh based technology firm ABG Capital; and Mauritius-registered FII LTR Focus Fund have contributed $3.1 million, $2.7 million and $1.8 million respectively. New investors in the round include JS Capital (M) Ltd and Parkwood Bespin, both Mauritius-registered entities; and Singapore-based high net-worth individual Daniel E. Neary. The three together contributed around $20 million. Till now, the firm has raised $900 million in total round of funding.
In recent past, the car service provider has also announced to raise an undisclosed amount of funding from Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus Ratan Tata. Further in the month of March 2015, Ola acquired its rival TaxiForSure with an aim to become the leader in cab aggregator space.
Founded in January 2011 by IIT Bombay alumni Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, the start-up also revealed its plans to infuse over $750 million in coming years to expand its cab leasing business, which will enable drivers to lease a car for minimal initial deposit. The amount will be raised independently in time to come. Further, it will also enable monthly lease payments with an option to own the vehicle after a period of 3 months. Over 1000 vehicles across Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and three other cities are already on road as part of this pilot. By December 2015, at least 10,000 cars are expected to be on-road under the leasing model.
