Ola raises $500 Mn pre-IPO round from Warburg, Temasek and Bhavish Aggarwal

Ola has raised $500 million from Temasek, Warburg Pincus’s Plum Wood and its founder Bhavish Aggarwal a day after it had sought permission from the Competition Commission of India to invest. 

Entrackr was first to report about these investors seeking CCI approval for the transaction.

According to the company, the fresh capital is part of a pre-IPO round. However, it did not disclose the current valuation or the timeline of the proposed IPO.

This is the first investment for Warburg in Ola where Singapore-based Temasek is an existing backer. In August 2018, Temasek had bought $225 million worth of shares in a secondary transaction in the ride-hailing company. According to Entrackr’s sources, it is also contemplating a $120-150 million round in Ola Electric.

“Over the last 12 months we’ve made our ride-hailing business more robust, resilient and efficient. 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,” Aggarwal said in a press statement.

While the company’s businesses have been severely hit during the two waves of the coronavirus pandemic in the country, the Bengaluru-based company claims to have scaled up its ride-hailing business. 

According to experts tracking the mobility space, Ola and Uber are still some distance away from regaining their pre-Covid peak. The stress in the industry could also be noticed from the shutdown of Shuttl and the imminent acquisition of Drivezy by Yamaha.

Besides its cab-hailing business, Ola is also planning to launch its electric scooter soon. According to media reports, the company’s Chennai-based factory is now ready to produce its e-scooters. 

Last month, GR Arun Kumar, Ola Group CFO also said that the delivery of e-scooters will start from August. He claimed that the first phase of Ola's factory construction will have a capacity of 2 million vehicles. On Thursday, Aggarwal also informed that the production of scooters will begin soon.