India's homegrown ride-hailing giant Ola has successfully raised a whopping $2 billion in new funding yesterday from a group of high profile investors that includes names such as Japan's telecom and internet giant SoftBank and China's Tencent Holdings. The information was uncovered in a report by Bloomberg which cited information from a source familiar with the happenings of the deal.
The person further divulged that the funding round hasn’t been completed yet and there’s a strong chance that the $2 billion will rise towards the end.
According to the report, the funding round has also seen the participation of a venture capital fund, which is being jointly run by Indian industrialist Ratan Tata, U.S. institutional investors and the University of California's investment arm.
While no official announcement regarding the funding has been made yet, we all know about SoftBank’s growing fascination with India’s booming startup market. In the recent past, the Japanese major has made several investments in the ecosystem, among which the most headline making investments include $1 billion in e-commerce platform Snapdeal and $70 million in grocery delivery firm Grofers.
Prior to this, Ola had raised $250 million in funding from SoftBank Group in April this year. SoftBank had invested the capital through SIMI Pacific Pte Ltd, an affiliate of SoftBank Internet and Media Inc.
The cab hailing category is seeing a rapid increase in India despite the flailing economy and frequent tax reforms in the country. According to a recent report by business research firm RedSeer Consulting, despite supply side disruptions and regulatory challenges, online cab aggregators like Uber and Ola completed half a billion rides in the year 2016. This means the market saw 280 per cent growth compared to 2015, when the industry witnessed 130 million rides.
SoftBank-backed, home-grown company Ola and San Francisco-based Uber account for a majority of this growing market. However, Ola is currently leading the market.
Founded in 2011, Bengaluru-based Ola covers 102 cities in the country compared to Uber’s 28. Ola also claims to have registered 500,000 vehicles on its platform and offers a wider range of vehicle options than Uber.
The person further divulged that the funding round hasn’t been completed yet and there’s a strong chance that the $2 billion will rise towards the end.
According to the report, the funding round has also seen the participation of a venture capital fund, which is being jointly run by Indian industrialist Ratan Tata, U.S. institutional investors and the University of California's investment arm.
While no official announcement regarding the funding has been made yet, we all know about SoftBank’s growing fascination with India’s booming startup market. In the recent past, the Japanese major has made several investments in the ecosystem, among which the most headline making investments include $1 billion in e-commerce platform Snapdeal and $70 million in grocery delivery firm Grofers.
Prior to this, Ola had raised $250 million in funding from SoftBank Group in April this year. SoftBank had invested the capital through SIMI Pacific Pte Ltd, an affiliate of SoftBank Internet and Media Inc.
The cab hailing category is seeing a rapid increase in India despite the flailing economy and frequent tax reforms in the country. According to a recent report by business research firm RedSeer Consulting, despite supply side disruptions and regulatory challenges, online cab aggregators like Uber and Ola completed half a billion rides in the year 2016. This means the market saw 280 per cent growth compared to 2015, when the industry witnessed 130 million rides.
SoftBank-backed, home-grown company Ola and San Francisco-based Uber account for a majority of this growing market. However, Ola is currently leading the market.
Founded in 2011, Bengaluru-based Ola covers 102 cities in the country compared to Uber’s 28. Ola also claims to have registered 500,000 vehicles on its platform and offers a wider range of vehicle options than Uber.
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