Hyundai and Kia Motors pump $300 Mn in Ola to boost EV offering

After rounds of investment talks, the ride-hailing major Ola has finally announced raising $300 million funding led by Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors. This is a major combined investment by the two firms of the South Korean Hyundai Motor Group.

The strategic investment is part of the ride-hailing firm's ongoing Series J round of funding, which is estimated at $1 billion.

As part of the collaboration, Ola will develop fleet and mobility solutions, electric vehicles and infrastructure specific to the Indian market with the help of investors.

Our partnership with Ola will certainly accelerate our efforts to transform into a Smart Mobility Solutions Provider, said Euisun Chung, Executive Vice Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group in a joint statement.

The partnership also promises to benefit its millions of drivers with financial services like lease and installment payments.

Entrackr had first reported the development in the first week of this month.

The latest investment round will add firepower to Ola to counter its rival Uber in India. Besides, it will also help Bhavish Agarwal-led Ola to keep SoftBank, which owns 26 percent stake, at bay and keep looking for new investors.

Earlier last month, Bengaluru-based firm had raised Rs 650 crore funding from Flipkart co-founder Sachin Bansal. Ola's electric mobility arm had recently raised $56 million (Rs 400 crore) from Tiger Global, Matrix Partners, and Sarin Family India LLC.

It has also been reportedly in talks with Mirae Asset for potential investment at the valuation of around $6 billion. So far, Ola has raised $3.8 billion in funding. At present, it is operational in more than 100 cities in India. Last year, Ola forayed the ride-hailing markets in the UK and Australia.

The ride-hailing firm aims to bring 1 million electric vehicles and create over two million livelihood opportunities in the mobility ecosystem in the next two years.

On the other hand, this is not the first such a strategic investment by car maker Hyundai. In November 2018, Hyundai had invested $250 million in Grab.

The car-maker also pour in $14.3 million round in Indian car rental platform Revv last year. It has also been investing over $1 billion in Sriperumbudur facility near Chennai to manufacture electric cars.