Mumbai: Ola, India’s third most valuable Internet company, has raised around $225 million (
Rs.1,478
crore) as part of a new funding round that could see the firm raise
over $500 million, and is expected to be closed shortly.
The latest funding is led by existing investor Falcon Edge Capital.
The New York-based hedge fund
is joined in the latest round by Ola’s
other existing investors Tiger Global Management LLC and Softbank Corp.
and six other investors, according to documents filed by the company
with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).
The fresh tranche takes the total capital raised by ANI Technologies
Pvt. Ltd, the Mumbai-based company that owns Ola, to a little over $900
million.
The round also comes less than six months after Ola closed a $400
million round from an investor consortium led by Russian billionaire
Yuri Milner’s investment firm DST Global. Then, Ola was reportedly
valued at $2.5 billion.
Shortly after the $400-million round,
Mint reported that Ola
was in the market to raise $500 million more. The latest round is likely
to be part of that round, though this could not be verified. Ola CEO
and founder Bhavish Aggarwal did not respond to emailed queries.
According to the RoC filing, dated 8 September, Falcon Edge,
investing via an entity called FO Mauritius I Ltd, has written out a
cheque for
Rs.514.7
crore. Other major investors in the “Series H” round are Tiger Global,
investing via Internet Fund III Pte Limited, and Softbank, which has
invested through SIMI Pacific Pte Limited. Tiger and Softbank have
pumped in
Rs.396.9 crore and
Rs.384 crore, respectively.
Email queries to Falcon Edge, Softbank and Tiger Global remained unanswered.
Other existing investors, Steadview Capital, the Hong Kong-based
hedge fund, Pittsburgh based technology firm ABG Capital and
Mauritius-registered FII LTR Focus Fund have contributed
Rs.21.2 crore,
Rs.17.6 crore and
Rs.12.3
crore 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
Rs.131.2 crore.
According to the firm’s ROC filings, Ola has issued shares at a price of
Rs.29.4
lakh apiece. This is almost double the value of shares allotted to Tata
Group chairman emeritus Ratan Tata and former Vodafone Plc CEO Arun
Sarin in May and August, respectively. Tata and Sarin invested in Ola as
part of the extended $400 million Series G round and picked up stakes
at
Rs.15.8 lakh per share.
As per a valuation document filed with the RoC in April, Ola and its
investors expect the firm to become PBT (Profit Before Tax) positive by
2017-18.
The latest fund raising comes barely a month after San
Francisco-based Uber, currently the world’s most valuable start-up at
$51 billion, announced that it would pump $1 billion into India over the
next 6-9 months. Uber claims to be growing 40% month-on-month in India
and expects to clock more than one million daily rides by the end of the
current fiscal. It has introduced certain India-specific measures to
suit its business to the local market. These include cash payments and
low cost services.
Also, last month, Tata Opportunities Fund invested almost $100 million in Uber, to help in its India expansion.
Over the past few months, Ola has also unveiled a slew of measures to
take on Uber. Its latest game plan includes becoming a one-stop
transportation solutions provider. After cabs and autorickshaws, the
firm is on the verge of rolling out shuttle bus services by on-boarding
chartered and tourist buses on its platform. In addition, it is
exploring ancillary revenue channels. It entered the food delivery
business with Ola Café in March and followed with grocery delivery app
Ola Store in June. It is also expanding its mobile wallet, Ola Money, by
offering it to other ecommerce platforms such as OYO Rooms, Lenskart
and Saavn.