Post Ola Electric, now Ola Cabs meets investment banks, weighs IPO

Founded in 2010, Ola Cabs found immediate backing from the likes of Softbank and Tiger Global.

ANI Technologies, the parent company of Ola Cabs, initiated preliminary discussions with investment banks this week as the holding firm evaluates the potential launch of an initial public offer (IPO) of the ride hailing business, three people familiar with the development said on the condition of anonymity.

The development comes on the back of sister firm Ola Electric filing its draft red herring prospectus with market regulator Sebi in December to raise around Rs 7,250 crores via an IPO, the first attempt at a public listing by an Indian electric vehicle (EV) firm.

"Ola Cabs held early stage discussions with a few global and domestic investment banks on April 19 in Bangalore. More meetings with other banks may happen later," one of the people cited above said.

The person added that no final call had been taken as yet on the listing and depending on market conditions, plans may change later.

Founded in 2010, Ola Cabs found immediate backing from the likes of SoftBank and Tiger Global. An initial public offer would provide an exit window to its investors and facilitate growth capital.

A second person also confirmed the meeting between the firm and the bankers.

A third person told Moneycontrol, " Both Ola Electric and Ola Cabs are different businesses and both are IPOable. These are early days and if they decide to take the plunge, they will finalize a syndicate of advisors and proceed. "

In response to an email query from Moneycontrol, ANI Technologies declined to comment.

Kotak Mahindra Capital, Citi, BofA Securities, Goldman Sachs, Axis Capital, ICICI Securities, SBI Caps and BoB Caps are the banks working on the Ola Electric issue.

Gearing Up For A D-Street Debut

Ola Cabs, which competes with Uber in India , has charted plans to electrify its three-wheeler and four-wheeler services and expand the EV two-wheeler services for which the firm will also evaluate local partnerships for the same, the firm's CEO Hemant Bakshi said in January.

"It is part of our ambition to go completely electric across all the transportation services we have. This is a priority for us," Bakshi , who took over from founder Bhavish Aggarwal, said at a media briefing.
Aggarwal said he will remain “fully involved” with the business. “There is a partnership between Hemant and I. He brings the strategy and operations, while I am the proverbial entrepreneur, thinking about newer ideas and innovating."

Ola's Mobility business in FY23 reported a revenue of Rs 2,135 crore up nearly 58 percent, and for the first time, the firm reported a positive EBITDA of Rs 250 crore, after reporting Rs 66 crore of EBITDA loss in FY22.

Recently Ola Cabs shut down its international operations in a few countries amid rising competition, the governments' fleet electrification targets, and the firm's overall shift towards focussing on the India market.

"We’ve reassessed our priorities and have decided to shut down our overseas ride-hailing business in its current form in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. We remain very excited and focused on our mission to serve 1 Billion Indians," the firm responded in a statement to Moneycontrol's queries.

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In February, US-based Asset Management Company (AMC) Vanguard cut the fair value of ANI Technologies, for the third consecutive time, regulatory filings showed.

With the recent markdown Ola is valued at around $1.9 billion which is 74 percent lower than its valuation of $7.3 billion commanded when it raised $139 million from IIFL, Edelweiss PE and others in December 2021.
It is important to note that these adjustments to fair values are typically based on the AMC's internal assessment of the macro and microenvironment. They do not necessarily indicate a permanent markup or markdown in the startup's overall valuation.