Ola Electric announced that it had raised over $200 million from Tekne Private Ventures, Alpine Opportunity Fund, Edelweiss and others on January 24, 2022. The latest round values the company at $5 billion.
Over the last 12 months, Ola Electric which was spun out of the ride-hailing major Ola in 2019, has built the Futurefactory, the world’s largest two-wheeler manufacturing facility.
Ola S1 is a new and disruptive direct-to-consumer model with fully digital purchases coupled with home test rides, doorstep delivery, and after-sales service.
In a press statement, Bhavish Aggarwal, founder & CEO, Ola, said, “Ola Electric is creating India’s EV revolution and is driving cutting edge manufacturing from India for the entire world. With Ola S1, the best scooter ever made, we’ve changed the entire scooter industry and are now looking forward to bringing our innovative products to more two-wheeler categories, including bikes as well as cars.”
The company faced issues with new scooter delivery
The funding comes at a time when Ola Electric has had a rather bumpy ride after meeting a lot of backlashes from customers after it started its deliveries of e-scooters in mid-December.
Customers were facing issues, including damaged vehicles with cracks and dents all over the body, lower mileage (range), delayed charger installations, and discrepancies in the insurance policy.
Last week, the company also announced that customers who bought the S1 scooter are automatically upgraded to the S1 Pro, free of cost.
The new funding comes when the firm plans to go for a public market debut next year. It raised $500 million in debt financing from marquee international institutional investors earlier in December.
Ola Futurefactory to employ 10,000 women
Prior to this, Ola Electric had raised about $52.7 million from investors such as Temasek, IIFL, Edelweiss, Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s VSS Investco and DST Global’s Rahul Mehta. This financing came a couple of months after it raised $200 million, led by Falcon Edge, SoftBank, and others.
Ola Futurefactory will employ over 10,000 women at full capacity and will be the world’s most prominent women-only factory and the only all-women automotive manufacturing facility globally. Ola Electric is accelerating the world’s transition to sustainable mobility by replacing archaic systems with smart, affordable, and good vehicles for the planet.
