Decoding Ola Electric $300 Mn Series E financing round

Ola Electric holds a commanding position in the electric two-wheeler market in India. The EV company has consistently been in the news - whether it is the quality of its products or its upcoming Gigafactory in Tamil Nadu. 

Ola Electric is currently in the process of raising fresh funds as part of its series E Round and reportedly has secured an initial tranche of $140 million.

While Ola Electric has not officially announced the fundraise, Entrackr sifted through its regulatory filing to find out more details. As per filings, the company is in the process of securing $300 million, with $143 million already received by Ola Electric.

The $300 million round breakup:

The company has issued 239.8 crore Series E preference shares at a face value of Rs 10 per share to raise 2,398 crore or $300 million which included both tranches, regulatory filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs show.

Temasek with its two investment arms (V-Sciences and MacRitchie) poured in Rs 1,518 crore or $190 million. Blue Investments and DIG Investments pumped in Rs 333 crore and Rs 290 crore respectively. 

Tiger Global, Tekne Private Ventures and Ashutosh Vinayak Joshi also participated with Rs 165 crore, Rs 41.3 crore and Rs 50 crore respectively.

Ola Electric declined to comment on the story.

Ola Electric’s latest round is the largest for any EV company as of September this year. According to the filings, the company has received Rs 1,143 crore or $143 million. The breakup can be seen in the graph below.

As per TheKredible estimates, the company will be valued at around Rs 44,410 crore or $5.4 billion post-allotment. This is a significant surge in valuation from $5 billion in January last year. On the other hand, ride-hailing Ola Cabs’ valuation was marked down by 50% to $3.5 billion by its investor Vanguard at the end of May. It’s worth noting that Ola was valued at $7.3 billion in 2021.

Ola Electric had raised $800-900 before its Series E funding. According to startup data intelligence platform TheKredible, SoftBank is the largest external stakeholder with 23.6% followed by Tiger Global, Matrix, and others. Its founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal commands a 36.6% stake before Series E.

Ola Electric is the only unicorn in the EV space. Its close competitor Ather Energy recently scooped up $108 million from its existing backers GIC and Hero MotoCorp. The firm was all set to enter the coveted club of unicorns, however, it chose to raise via right issue rather than equity fundraise. The firm was previously valued at $750 million.