Ola Electric lands $200 million funding from Falcon Edge, SoftBank and others at $3 billion valuation – EQ Mag Pro
The funds raised will be used to accelerate development of other vehicle platforms including electric motorbike, mass market scooter and its electric car.
Ola Electric said on September 30 that it has raised over $200 million financing led by Falcon Edge, SoftBank and others, at a valuation of $3 billion.
The funds raised will be used to accelerate the development of other vehicle platforms including electric motorbike, mass-market scooter and its electric car.
“We’re proud to lead the EV revolution from India to the world. India has the talent and the capability to build technologies of the future for the industries of the future for the entire world. I thank our existing investors and welcome new ones to Ola. Together we will bring mobility to a billion and sustainability to the future,” said Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal.
This fundraise comes after the company sold over $150 million worth of scooters in its first purchase window – which Ola claims is higher than the entire two-wheeler industry on each of the two days.
Last week, Aggarwal said they plan to strengthen Ola’s range of electric vehicles with more scooters, bikes and cars in the coming quarters. In addition, the firm aims to expand them to a larger audience by making them more affordable and accessible through electric vehicles customised for the diverse shared mobility needs.
Also in the works is a plan to open up its digital retail platform to other original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for digital distribution.
“We have already built a powerful digital retail platform that bypasses physical infrastructure and hosted the largest automotive launch in history with the Ola S1. It will bring consumers wide multi-brand choice online, at home test rides, personalised financing, insurance and more. The existing ecosystem of dealers will play an important role in this future but in a new paradigm,” Aggarwal had noted.
Ola Electric, which was spun out of the ride-hailing major Ola, is setting up a 500-acre factory in Tamil Nadu’s Krishnagiri with the aim of making 10 million vehicles a year at full capacity, making it the world’s largest two-wheeler factory. In July, it had secured $100 million in long term debt from the Bank of Baroda to close the first phase of development of its factory.
On September 13, Aggarwal also announced that Ola Future Factory would be run entirely by women, 10,000 of whom will be employed when the plant reaches full production capacity, making it the world’s largest women-only factory and the only all-women automotive manufacturing facility across the world.
Ola’s core ride-hailing unit is also planning to list on stock exchanges soon, for which it raised $500 million from Warburg Pincus and Temasek, giving early backers Tiger and Matrix a part exit from the company.
Source: moneycontrol
