Bhavish Aggarwal pledges more Ola Electric shares for Krutrim, personal pledge now 8%

Bhavish Aggarwal, founder of Ola Electric and AI startup Krutrim.

Bhavish Aggarwal, founder of Ola Electric and AI startup Krutrim, has pledged an additional 5.88 crore shares of Ola Electric to secure funding for Krutrim, as per a regulatory filing on March 6. The latest pledge is an addition to an earlier encumbrance of 1.1 percent shares.

It is understood that this is the second and final pledge to fund Krutrim.

The total pledged value of Aggarwal's Ola Electric shares is approximately Rs 603 crore at the current share price of Rs 56.37 on the NSE. ​​He has now pledged approximately 2.43 percent of Ola Electric's total shares, equivalent to 8.09 percent of his personal stake in the company, to secure funding for Krutrim.

On February 4, Aggarwal announced an investment of Rs 2,000 crore in the AI venture, with a commitment of Rs 10,000 crore by next year.

Krutrim, which means 'artificial' in Sanskrit, is focusing on building the entire AI computing stack.

Meanwhile, Aggarwal, who owns a little over 30 percent of Ola Electric, has pledged the shares in favour of Axis Trustee Services Limited on behalf of Avendus Structured Credit Fund II, Avendus Finance, and InCred Credit Opportunities Funds I & II.

Before this, Aggarwal pledged 1.1 percent of Ola Electric's stake to back Krutrim’s financing in December, 2024.

The pledged shares are a non-disposal undertaking rather than an outright sale. This means Aggarwal retains ownership but commits not to sell or transfer the shares.

In January, Krutrim was valued at $1 billion after it raised  $50 million in funding led by Matrix Partners India, an early backer of Aggarwal's other ventures Ola Cabs and Ola Electric.

Krutrim has also launched a standalone Android app for its eponymous AI chatbot that intends to take on rivals such as OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, and Microsoft's Copilot.