Online ride-hailing startup Ola plans to raise to $1 billion through an initial public offering (IPO). The company has selected Citigroup and Kotak Mahindra Bank to manage its IPO, which is expected to be launched in October, making it the latest startup to join the capital markets boom.
Ola is among the clutch of companies in India that have taken the IPO route to raise funds. The raging IPO frenzy has set a record of sorts this month, with the first 20 days of August witnessing as many as 23 filings seeking regulatory permission to launch IPOs.
One of the sources aware of the development said details of the offering by ANI Technologies (which runs Ola), including size and timeline, could still change given that deliberations are still ongoing.
Ola seeking funding to strengthen its EV arm
The talks of IPO are making the rounds when Ola Electric is in advanced talks to raise between $250 million to $500 million in a new financing round. Earlier this month, Ola Electric launched its first electric scooter, called Ola S1.
Falcon Edge Capital is in advanced talks to lead the round, which values Ola Electric between $2.75 billion to $3.5 billion (up from $1 billion in its previous fundraise in 2019). Singapore’s Temasek is also in the race.
In July 2021 itself, Temasek and Warburg Pincus announced investing $500 million in Ola. The ride-hailing startup which has SoftBank as its major investor, has bagged this investment almost two years after its series J financing round. The co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Bhavish Aggarwal participated in the new investment round.
Ola reboots itself after the pandemic
At that time, Aggarwal had said the company had made its ride-hailing business “more robust, resilient and efficient” over the last 12 months.
“With strong recovery post lockdown and a shift in consumer preference away from public transportation, we are well-positioned to capitalize on the various urban mobility needs of our customers,” he had said.
In the same month, Ola had also announced the expansion of its employee stock options (ESOP) pool to INR 3,000 crore and allocation of an additional INR 400 crore worth of stocks to employees.
