Ola raises $74 million in fresh capital from Steadview Capital

SoftBank-backed Ola has raised another $74 million from its existing investors HongKong-based hedge fund Steadview Capital, according to documents of the Registrar of Companies (ROC) sourced from data intelligence firm PaperVC.

ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd which owns and operates Ola is allotting 245,082 fully and compulsorily convertible, cumulative ‘Series ‘J’ Preference Shares’ having face value of Rs 10 at a subscription price of Rs 21,250 to Steadview Capital.

Ola last announced a fund-raise of $1.1 billion from China’s Tencent Holdings and existing investor SoftBank Group in October and said it was in talks to raise another $1 billion.

This latest fund raise is expected to be a part of the $1 billion, the company has been trying to raise. Following the funding, the valuation of the company is likely to have soared to $5.5-6 billion.

Last year, it also added $50 million of funding from Hong Kong-based private equity firm Sailing Capital and China-Eurasian Economic Cooperation Fund, a Chinese state-backed investment fund.

The development comes at a time when Ola is aggressively expanding its operations internationally.

Six months after foraying into Australia, Ola launched its operations in the United Kingdom in September.

While in India, Ola operates across over 100 cities, in Australia it has set up operations in seven cities. It claims to have registered 40,000 drivers on its app in Australia.

The domestic ride-hailing firm is also locked in an intense battle for market leadership with the US-based rival, Uber.

The company is also focusing on the non-core business such as food and bike rides. Last month, it announced a strategic partnership with scooter sharing firm Vogo. It plans to invest in 100,000 scooters on the Vogo platform, worth $100 million.

The company is also learnt to be entering into the e-pharmacy space. It is reportedly in talks with medicine delivery firm Myra for a potential acquisition. It runs its food delivery business through Foodpanda which was acquired in 2017.