Ola Invests $100 Mn in Scooter Rental Startup Vogo

Cab hailing firm Ola will invest $100 million in Vogo, a scooter rental startup based out of Bangalore, which will allow it to add Vogo fleet of two-wheelers to the Ola app to enable its users to rent the two-wheeled devices.

Vogo, which provides services in the southern Indian cities of Bengaluru and Hyderabad, will use the money to expand its fleet by 100,000 scooters. It did not disclose how many scooters it currently has but said that more than 100,000 users have commuted for over 20 million kilometres using its two-wheelers.

“Our investment in Vogo will help build a smart multi-modal network for first-last mile connectivity in the country,” Ola co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Bhavish Aggarwal said in a media statement.

Notably, Ola was already an investor in Vogo prior to this investment as in August this year Vogo had raised an undisclosed Series A round from Ola, Matrix Partners and other investors, and now in this follow-on deal, Ola is doubling down its investment in Vogo.

Founded in 2016, by IIT-Bombay & IIM-Ahmedabad almni -- Anand Ayyadurai, B Padmanabhan and Sanchit Mittal, Vogo is a dockless scooter rental firm which lets customers rent scooters for short one way trips. The scooters have 'VOGO box' attached, which lets customers access the key without any human intervention and start riding.

Prior to Ola's investment, Vogo had raised a total of about $8 million in three rounds of funding from investors including Alteria Capital, Stellaris Venture Partners, Matrix India and individual investors like Pawan Munjal of HeroMotoCorp, Muthu Murugappan, Ajit Thomas and Vishesh Rajaram.

To recall, in May this year, Ola Co-founders, Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, had together invested ₹45 lakh in Tork Motorcycles, a Pune-based electric vehicle (EV) making startup . Bhavish had invested nearly Rs 30 lakh while Bhati contributed about Rs 15 lakh, in lieu of shares.

Ola's investment in Tork was seen as an extension of the company's ambitious plans of putting a fleet of 10,000 EVs over the next 12 months and one million electric vehicles on its platform by 2021.

Ola Raises Fresh $50 Mn from New Investors At Valuation of $4.2 Billion

Bangalore-headquartered ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd., which owns and operates Ola cab aggregation service, has raised $50 million in funding from two new investors - Hong Kong-based Sailing Capital and the China-Eurasian Economic Cooperation Fund (CEECF).

CEECF is a Chinese state-backed fund that was set up with a mission for deepening economic cooperation between China and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation region. The fund was announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2014, with an initial size of $1 billion, as an investment vehicle for further realising the country’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Ola issued 250,000 preference shares divided equally between Hong Kong-based private equity fund Sailing Capital and the China-Eurasian Economic Cooperation Fund (CEF), documents filed with the Registrar of Companies, which were sourced from Paper.vc, showed.

The funding came at a time when Ola is aggressively expanding outside and within India. Last month, Ola obtained licences to operate in South Wales and Greater Manchester of United Kingdom (UK). Prior to this the company had launched its services in Australia.

The fresh investment was part of Series-I 2 round in which the company raised $50 million from the two investors at a valuation between $3.7 billion and $4.2 billion. Ola had closed its Series-I 1 round in September 2017 and Series-I 3 round in December of the same year.

With this funding, CEECF along with Sailing Capital will own close to 1.2% combined stake in the Indian ride-hailing firm. The formalizing of the investment comes at a time when Ola is in talks with multiple investors to raise as much as $1 billion to take on rival Uber, not just in India but also overseas markets such as Australia and the UK.

In a report published last month, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek had reportedly invested as much as $225 million in Ola to pick up a high single digit stake in the company. The deal was said to have given exits to several early investors in Ola, including the buyback of employee stock ownership plan from some employees.

According to media outlets, Ola is looking for raise fresh capital from new investors to reduce the power of its largest investor SoftBank, which now owns a little over 25 per cent stake in the company. Last year, Ola founders Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati had blocked a move by SoftBank Chairman Masayoshi Son to purchase shares from the company’s second largest investor Tiger Global.

While the company requires capital to expand its business, especially since it is rapidly entering new geographies, Ola wants to keep SoftBank from exerting too much pressure on its board. SoftBank has invested close to $8 billion to pick up 15 per cent stake in Ola’s biggest rival Uber, making it the largest investor in both the ride-hailing firms.

To recall, Indonesian unicorn startup Go-Jek, which offers hyperlocal transport, logistics and payment services, is also planning to launch its bike-taxi service in India in the second half of 2018, and this will be an another unicorn tagged competitor for Ola as the later is also into bike-taxi service called as 'Ola Bike'.

In May this year, it was also reported that Ola (ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd) is planning to set up a holding company that will own different business units, including its core cab business, food delivery app Foodpanda and the nascent businesses of electric vehicles (EV) and the international unit.

Source - Business Standard, LiveMint

[Top Image - DriveSpark.com]

Ola Raises Fresh $50 Mn from New Investors At Valuation of $4.2 Billion

Bangalore-headquartered ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd., which owns and operates Ola cab aggregation service, has raised $50 million in funding from two new investors - Hong Kong-based Sailing Capital and the China-Eurasian Economic Cooperation Fund (CEECF).

CEECF is a Chinese state-backed fund that was set up with a mission for deepening economic cooperation between China and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation region. The fund was announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2014, with an initial size of $1 billion, as an investment vehicle for further realising the country’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Ola issued 250,000 preference shares divided equally between Hong Kong-based private equity fund Sailing Capital and the China-Eurasian Economic Cooperation Fund (CEF), documents filed with the Registrar of Companies, which were sourced from Paper.vc, showed.

The funding came at a time when Ola is aggressively expanding outside and within India. Last month, Ola obtained licences to operate in South Wales and Greater Manchester of United Kingdom (UK). Prior to this the company had launched its services in Australia.

The fresh investment was part of Series-I 2 round in which the company raised $50 million from the two investors at a valuation between $3.7 billion and $4.2 billion. Ola had closed its Series-I 1 round in September 2017 and Series-I 3 round in December of the same year.

With this funding, CEECF along with Sailing Capital will own close to 1.2% combined stake in the Indian ride-hailing firm. The formalizing of the investment comes at a time when Ola is in talks with multiple investors to raise as much as $1 billion to take on rival Uber, not just in India but also overseas markets such as Australia and the UK.

In a report published last month, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek had reportedly invested as much as $225 million in Ola to pick up a high single digit stake in the company. The deal was said to have given exits to several early investors in Ola, including the buyback of employee stock ownership plan from some employees.

According to media outlets, Ola is looking for raise fresh capital from new investors to reduce the power of its largest investor SoftBank, which now owns a little over 25 per cent stake in the company. Last year, Ola founders Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati had blocked a move by SoftBank Chairman Masayoshi Son to purchase shares from the company’s second largest investor Tiger Global.

While the company requires capital to expand its business, especially since it is rapidly entering new geographies, Ola wants to keep SoftBank from exerting too much pressure on its board. SoftBank has invested close to $8 billion to pick up 15 per cent stake in Ola’s biggest rival Uber, making it the largest investor in both the ride-hailing firms.

To recall, Indonesian unicorn startup Go-Jek, which offers hyperlocal transport, logistics and payment services, is also planning to launch its bike-taxi service in India in the second half of 2018, and this will be an another unicorn tagged competitor for Ola as the later is also into bike-taxi service called as 'Ola Bike'.

In May this year, it was also reported that Ola (ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd) is planning to set up a holding company that will own different business units, including its core cab business, food delivery app Foodpanda and the nascent businesses of electric vehicles (EV) and the international unit.

Source - Business Standard, LiveMint

[Top Image - DriveSpark.com]

Ola To Setup Holding Company Structure That Will Own Ola Cabs, Foodpanda and EV business Unit

Indian cab-hailing firm Ola is adopting a holding company structure similar to that of India’s most successful internet startup Flipkart to boost the cab-hailing company’s valuation and improve the management of its businesses, reported Live Mint, citing four people familiar with the matter.

For uninitiated, a "holding company" is a company that owns other companies' outstanding stock. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself but its purpose is to own shares of other companies -- or different business units in Ola's case -- to form a corporate group. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow the ownership and control of a number of different companies.

Ola (ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd) will set up a holding company that will own different business units, including its core cab business, food delivery app Foodpanda and the nascent businesses of electric vehicles (EV) and the international unit, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity. These businesses and some others are expected to have their respective heads who will run them independently, said the report.

After the recent departure of Ola’s chief operating officer Vishal Kaul, senior vice-presidents Saikiran Krishnamurthy and Pallav Singh are expected to get bigger roles under the new structure.

Ola chief executive Bhavish Aggarwal wants to create a similar structure to that of Flipkart, the people said.

“It’s becoming difficult for Bhavish to devote attention to all the different businesses. The group structure is an efficient way to increase management bandwidth,” one of the four people cited in the Live Mint report said.

In March, Ola hired former BMW executive Anand Shah to head the electric vehicle business.

It also appointed Pranay Jivrajka as CEO of Foodpanda, which may raise funds separately later this year.

Ola had bought Foodpanda in December in an all-stock deal and said it will invest $200 million towards growing the business.

In Flipkart's case, the holding or group company structure allowed the homegrown e-commerce firm to improve its overall valuation and give enough management focus to each business, which were independent of the others.

Google too, after rebranding its “collection of companies” to Alphabet, in 2015, formed a new holding company, called XXVI Holdings Inc., in September 2017.

Ola To Setup Holding Company Structure That Will Own Ola Cabs, Foodpanda and EV business Unit

Indian cab-hailing firm Ola is adopting a holding company structure similar to that of India’s most successful internet startup Flipkart to boost the cab-hailing company’s valuation and improve the management of its businesses, reported Live Mint, citing four people familiar with the matter.

For uninitiated, a "holding company" is a company that owns other companies' outstanding stock. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself but its purpose is to own shares of other companies -- or different business units in Ola's case -- to form a corporate group. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow the ownership and control of a number of different companies.

Ola (ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd) will set up a holding company that will own different business units, including its core cab business, food delivery app Foodpanda and the nascent businesses of electric vehicles (EV) and the international unit, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity. These businesses and some others are expected to have their respective heads who will run them independently, said the report.

After the recent departure of Ola’s chief operating officer Vishal Kaul, senior vice-presidents Saikiran Krishnamurthy and Pallav Singh are expected to get bigger roles under the new structure.

Ola chief executive Bhavish Aggarwal wants to create a similar structure to that of Flipkart, the people said.

“It’s becoming difficult for Bhavish to devote attention to all the different businesses. The group structure is an efficient way to increase management bandwidth,” one of the four people cited in the Live Mint report said.

In March, Ola hired former BMW executive Anand Shah to head the electric vehicle business.

It also appointed Pranay Jivrajka as CEO of Foodpanda, which may raise funds separately later this year.

Ola had bought Foodpanda in December in an all-stock deal and said it will invest $200 million towards growing the business.

In Flipkart's case, the holding or group company structure allowed the homegrown e-commerce firm to improve its overall valuation and give enough management focus to each business, which were independent of the others.

Google too, after rebranding its “collection of companies” to Alphabet, in 2015, formed a new holding company, called XXVI Holdings Inc., in September 2017.

Ola, YuppTV Join Hands To Allow Commuters Watch Live Tv During Their Ride

YuppTV, one of the fastest growing over-the-top (OTT) entertainment platforms for streaming South Asian Content globally, announced a partnership with India’s leading mobile app for transportation Ola, for its connected car platform for ridesharing, Ola Play.

Ola commuters will now have easy access to a vast array of LIVE TV options across categories such as news, music, and general entertainment through YuppTV on Ola Play, a partnership that ensures an uninterrupted living room to car experience. The content available will be customized depending on customer preferences and ride information like time, destination, and preferred language to provide the perfect connected in-car experience.

YuppTV allows broadcasters and content providers to reach their target audiences through multiple mediums and screens and has the potential to greatly enhance the experience for many Ola customers with a wide range of live-streaming content. The association also, adds value to the superior experience proposition of Ola Rental and Ola Outstation categories that are widely used by customers. Long, traffic-filled journeys are now going to be easier rides with YuppTV’s broad selection of entertainment choices on display.

Commenting on the development, Uday Reddy, Founder, and CEO of YuppTV said, “We are glad to announce our association with Ola for bringing LIVE TV channels to Ola Play. At YuppTV, it has been our constant endeavor to make highly entertaining content easily accessible to our users. Ola’s unique connected car experience, Ola Play, is in line with that vision as it allows for an immersive entertainment experience that is now going to be customized in accordance to the unique tastes and preferences of Ola cab riders. We are affirmative that in addition to increasing the user base of YuppTV, the association will now make Ola cab rides fun and entertaining for the commuters.”

Speaking on the same line, Ankit Jain, Vice President and Head of Ola Play, said, “With this partnership, Ola Play brings LIVE TV inside a cab for the first time, by leveraging OTT services of YuppTV to bring an experience that is easily accessible through the user’s mobile phone as well as the tab mounted in the backseat. With this partnership, we are bringing a range of TV channels to Play, including LIVE news channels that are accessible on the go and will certainly make travel time more productive.”Currently, Ola Play is available in six cities in the country; Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, and Hyderabad. Powered by proprietary in-car and cloud technologies from Ola, Ola Play brings advanced car controls, choice of personalized content and a fully-connected interactive experience through partnerships with the likes of Apple Music, AIB, TVF, Audio Compass, EROS Now, FastFilmz,  Arre, Lattu Kids, and PopXO to build a high quality interactive experience for users.

Currently, Ola Play is available in six cities in the country; Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, and Hyderabad. Powered by proprietary in-car and cloud technologies from Ola, Ola Play brings advanced car controls, choice of personalized content and a fully-connected interactive experience through partnerships with the likes of Apple Music, AIB, TVF, Audio Compass, EROS Now, FastFilmz,  Arre, Lattu Kids, and PopXO to build a high quality interactive experience for users.

Chinese Internet Conglomerate Tencent In Talks To Infuse $400 Mn In Ola

The homegrown cab hailing firm, Ola is again in news. The Bengaluru-based firm is in talks with Tencent, the Chinese internet conglomerate to raise next round of funding, according to the media reports. If everything goes well, it could result in an investment of $400 million.

According to the media reports, "Tencent executives were in Bangalore last week and they met the Ola management team to discuss the transaction.”

Founded by Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati in 2010, Ola is backed by marquee investors including SoftBank, Tiger Global and Matrix Partners. In June 2017, Ola had raised about $50 million (Rs 322 crore) from New York-based hedge fund Tekne Capital Management LLC, as part of the company’s ongoing funding round. Prior to that cab hailing app had raised Rs 670 crore in a fresh round of funding from Ratan Tata’s venture fund RNT Capital Advisers LLP and US hedge fund Falcon Edge Capital LP.

Since November 2016, Ola has raised nearly $400 million. If the investment from Tencent works, Ola will reach over $800 million in fresh total funding. The additional capital will push Ola's valuation to over $4 billion.

If reports to be believed, Ola has also held talks with Microsoft, the global tech giant to participate in the current round, but those talks have not yet advanced.

This news came just after, Tencent, a leading provider of internet value added services in China invested an undisclosed amount in BYJU’S, Indian edtech company.

Tencent which has earlier backed homegrown e-commerce firm, Flipkart will become one of the most influential investors in the Indian market with the total investment of over $ 1 billion, if this deal goes successfully.

Ola recently shared the tremendous growth witnessed by its shared mobility offering Ola Share. Registering a 500% growth in last one year; Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Kolkata have emerged as the top 5 cities for Ola Share.The funding comes at a time when Ola’s arch rival, Uber has been facing a host of issues. Now we have to see this will this round of funding will help Ola to stave off the challenge from it’s competitor, Uber.

The funding comes at a time when Ola’s arch rival, Uber has been facing a host of issues. Now we have to see this will this round of funding will help Ola to stave off the challenge from its competitor, Uber.

Olacabs Launches Ola Electric - India's First Ever Electric Mass Mobility System, in Nagpur

India's home-grown cab hailing firm has launched today - Ola Electric, India’s first multi-modal electric platform that includes electric autos, cars, and buses in Nagpur. Ola and Mahindra have partnered with the Government of India in a first-of- its-kind programme to build an electric mass mobility ecosystem in Nagpur which will bring about a transformational change in the automotive and transportation landscape in the country.

With this, Nagpur became the country’s first city with electric fleet of 200 electric vehicles, including electric taxis, electric buses, e-rickshaw and electric autos.

The pilot project here will commence with a 200-strong fleet, including 100 of Mahindra’s new e2o Plus vehicles. The rest will consist of vehicles sourced from other OEMs, including Tata Motors, Kinetic, BYD and TVS, among others.

Taxi aggregator Ola has already invested upwards of Rs 50 crore towards EVs and charging infrastructure, starting with 50 plus charging points across four strategic locations in Nagpur.

In an official blog post, company said - "Aligned with Government’s vision of 100% electric vehicles by 2030, this project aims at building an electric mobility ecosystem at scale, including charging infrastructure and a range of vehicle fleet viz. electric cabs, e-rickshaws, electric auto-rickshaws and electric buses. The vehicles have been procured from large OEM partners including Mahindra, Tata, Kinetic, BYD, and TVS amongst others."

"We are not only bringing onboard hundreds of vehicles across different types on road, but are also building the much needed charging infrastructure to power these vehicles. Our charging stations are the first of their kind, allowing for different types of electric vehicles to be charged under one roof!", added the company in the announcement.

Bhavish Aggarwal, co-founder and CEO, Ola, stressed that electric mobility in a multi-modal format will be the key towards realising the company’s mission of building mobility for a billion Indians.

Last year, govt of India had announced its vision to have only electric cars on roads of the country by 2030 by offering automobile manufacturers cash incentives to increase their production of electric vehicles (EVs) as well as subsidising the total cost involved in converting a fossil-fuel-gulping petrol car into an electric one.

With an eye on promoting eco-friendly transport, the government will be ready with its electric vehicle policy by December.

Ola Brings Free ‘Auto-Connect Wi-Fi’ Experience to Its Customers

Ola, India's most popular mobile app for transportation, today announced the launch of Ola Wi-Fi, a proprietary experience from the company’s innovation labs, that allows users to auto connect to Wi-Fi in an Ola cab without having to enter credentials every single time. Users with a one-time authentication on their phones, can use Ola Wi-Fi on their devices without having to key in login credentials and passwords in subsequent rides, staying connected with Ola’s secure network whenever they take a ride. Auto-Connect Wi-Fi is currently available for free on Ola Prime and will soon be available across all categories including Micro, Mini and Auto-rickshaws available on the Ola app.

If you are an Android user, update the Ola app and you can find your Wi-fi credentials on the app. This will be available on Windows and iOs shortly.

1. As soon as your Prime ride starts, tap on “Wi-Fi” on the “Track Your Ride” screen
   
   
   



2. You will find your unique Wi-Fi access point name and password.
   
   
   


3. Go to your Wi-Fi settings and connect to the Ola Wi-Fi Network with your unique password.


4. You have completed the one-time authentication. You will now be auto-connected to the Wi-Fi in all your future rides.

Wi-Fi hotspots that are available publicly today, are cumbersome to use with login credentials and unique passwords to be input every single time, making for a broken connectivity experience on the move. Also, the need for seamless connectivity is extremely important in a local market like India which is seeing a massive growth in the user base of smartphones that is upward of 40% year on year. Over 200TB of data was consumed on a monthly basis by users of Ola Prime, which was earlier making available high speed Wi-Fi in-cab with a standard authentication process. 65% customers who chose Ola Prime, connected to the in-cab Wi-Fi. With auto-connect Wi-Fi innovation, Ola foresees a massive surge in adoption, given the unmatched customer experience for users while on the move.

Raghuvesh Sarup, Head of Categories & Chief Marketing Officer said, “Ola Wi-Fi addresses the need for consumers to be connected to the internet while on the go, without the hassles of having to use unique credentials every single time. With over 40 minutes spent on an average cab ride in Indian cities, an auto-connect Wi-Fi experience can make every Ola, the ‘third place’ for consumers, beyond their home and workplace. We are ushering in a digital revolution in the country that has the potential to transform the experience of mobility for a billion Indians in the time to come."

The Auto-Connect Wi-Fi experience from Ola is built on the foundations of key Government initiatives including Digital India and Smart Cities. Globally respected technology companies like Google, have also come forward to set up innovative projects that can connect public spaces. This first of its kind innovation for India, can in the long run, help connect large communities of users, improving the quality of time spent while on the move.

Ankit Bhati, Co-founder & Chief Technology Officer at Ola added, “We are thrilled to bring our proprietary Ola Wi-Fi experience to users, changing the way they will stay connected on the move. As part of Ola’s Innovation Labs, this first of its kind experience is in line with the Government’s initiatives of Digital India and owes inspiration to large projects like free Wi-Fi in railway stations. We also see this as the beginning of connected cities, with hundreds of thousands of vehicles connecting millions of users on the go!"

Ola’s Innovation Labs have constantly built technology that solves for local market and consumer needs that the company is in a unique position to understand. In the past, Ola has enabled 2G optimization for its app, allowing for a lightning fast experience for users even on slower networks; a problem that is commonly encountered in many parts of the country. Ola has also made available its app for auto-rickshaw drivers in over 9 local languages and enabled turn by turn navigation features for driver-partners registered on the Ola app.

Ola Brings Free ‘Auto-Connect Wi-Fi’ Experience to Its Customers

Ola, India's most popular mobile app for transportation, today announced the launch of Ola Wi-Fi, a proprietary experience from the company’s innovation labs, that allows users to auto connect to Wi-Fi in an Ola cab without having to enter credentials every single time. Users with a one-time authentication on their phones, can use Ola Wi-Fi on their devices without having to key in login credentials and passwords in subsequent rides, staying connected with Ola’s secure network whenever they take a ride. Auto-Connect Wi-Fi is currently available for free on Ola Prime and will soon be available across all categories including Micro, Mini and Auto-rickshaws available on the Ola app.

If you are an Android user, update the Ola app and you can find your Wi-fi credentials on the app. This will be available on Windows and iOs shortly.

1. As soon as your Prime ride starts, tap on “Wi-Fi” on the “Track Your Ride” screen
   
   
   



2. You will find your unique Wi-Fi access point name and password.
   
   
   


3. Go to your Wi-Fi settings and connect to the Ola Wi-Fi Network with your unique password.


4. You have completed the one-time authentication. You will now be auto-connected to the Wi-Fi in all your future rides.

Wi-Fi hotspots that are available publicly today, are cumbersome to use with login credentials and unique passwords to be input every single time, making for a broken connectivity experience on the move. Also, the need for seamless connectivity is extremely important in a local market like India which is seeing a massive growth in the user base of smartphones that is upward of 40% year on year. Over 200TB of data was consumed on a monthly basis by users of Ola Prime, which was earlier making available high speed Wi-Fi in-cab with a standard authentication process. 65% customers who chose Ola Prime, connected to the in-cab Wi-Fi. With auto-connect Wi-Fi innovation, Ola foresees a massive surge in adoption, given the unmatched customer experience for users while on the move.

Raghuvesh Sarup, Head of Categories & Chief Marketing Officer said, “Ola Wi-Fi addresses the need for consumers to be connected to the internet while on the go, without the hassles of having to use unique credentials every single time. With over 40 minutes spent on an average cab ride in Indian cities, an auto-connect Wi-Fi experience can make every Ola, the ‘third place’ for consumers, beyond their home and workplace. We are ushering in a digital revolution in the country that has the potential to transform the experience of mobility for a billion Indians in the time to come."

The Auto-Connect Wi-Fi experience from Ola is built on the foundations of key Government initiatives including Digital India and Smart Cities. Globally respected technology companies like Google, have also come forward to set up innovative projects that can connect public spaces. This first of its kind innovation for India, can in the long run, help connect large communities of users, improving the quality of time spent while on the move.

Ankit Bhati, Co-founder & Chief Technology Officer at Ola added, “We are thrilled to bring our proprietary Ola Wi-Fi experience to users, changing the way they will stay connected on the move. As part of Ola’s Innovation Labs, this first of its kind experience is in line with the Government’s initiatives of Digital India and owes inspiration to large projects like free Wi-Fi in railway stations. We also see this as the beginning of connected cities, with hundreds of thousands of vehicles connecting millions of users on the go!"

Ola’s Innovation Labs have constantly built technology that solves for local market and consumer needs that the company is in a unique position to understand. In the past, Ola has enabled 2G optimization for its app, allowing for a lightning fast experience for users even on slower networks; a problem that is commonly encountered in many parts of the country. Ola has also made available its app for auto-rickshaw drivers in over 9 local languages and enabled turn by turn navigation features for driver-partners registered on the Ola app.

Post Budget: Amazon, Flipkart & Uber To Be Affected By New Increased Service Tax Rate

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Super Budget 2015 on 28^th February and got a thumbs up from most of the industry people. According to a proposal under the newly presented budget, the ecommerce industry will now come under the new service tax rate of fourteen percent. This new proposal is surely going to have a huge impact on web base aggregators of bus operators, retail sellers, hotels and taxi owners like OlaCabs, Amazon, Snapdeal, Flipkart and Uber.

According to the new proposal, which became effective from March 1, all online aggregators that own and operate a web based application will now come under the tax net.

Related - Budget 2015: All Talks, No Work For Tech-Startups, Reacts Tech Industry

"All aggregators which by means of an application and a communication device, enable a potential customer to connect with persons providing service of a particular kind under the brand name or trade name; shall fall under the service tax bracket," said a notification issued by the Finance ministry's department of Revenue, effecting the amendments to the Service Tax Rules of 1994 introduced in the Union budget 2015 on Saturday.

“We applaud the government's decision to include specific language pertaining to aggregators in the 2015 Union Budget that will drive improvements to tax compliance,” said a statement given by an Uber spokesperson to the Economic Times.  This new proposal to include online commerce industry under the ambit of the new service tax can be seen as a result of intense discussions that have been taking place between Uber and the Indian Tax authorities over the last few months. The Tax authorities of India questioned Uber last year over the payment of service tax in the country.

Until recently, the service tax rules did not imply on the web based aggregators. According to Uber India, this new proposal will ensure that there is transparency in the flow of tax revenues directly to the Indian government.  On the other hand, OlaCabs is hopeful that such new rules will bring the foreign players and domestic players on a level playing field and give them equal chance to grow and flourish.

As per the new rules introduced in the Budget 2015, even if such web based aggregators employ just a country head or liaison, their officials will still be liable to pay service tax on the behalf of the company.

These new service tax rules will also be applicable to classifieds players, deal websites and online aggregators like Stayzilla, Quikr, Cashkaro, Zomato, Mydala, FoodPanda, Housing and Olx

Post Budget: Amazon, Flipkart & Uber To Be Affected By New Increased Service Tax Rate

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Super Budget 2015 on 28^th February and got a thumbs up from most of the industry people. According to a proposal under the newly presented budget, the ecommerce industry will now come under the new service tax rate of fourteen percent. This new proposal is surely going to have a huge impact on web base aggregators of bus operators, retail sellers, hotels and taxi owners like OlaCabs, Amazon, Snapdeal, Flipkart and Uber.

According to the new proposal, which became effective from March 1, all online aggregators that own and operate a web based application will now come under the tax net.

Related - Budget 2015: All Talks, No Work For Tech-Startups, Reacts Tech Industry

"All aggregators which by means of an application and a communication device, enable a potential customer to connect with persons providing service of a particular kind under the brand name or trade name; shall fall under the service tax bracket," said a notification issued by the Finance ministry's department of Revenue, effecting the amendments to the Service Tax Rules of 1994 introduced in the Union budget 2015 on Saturday.

“We applaud the government's decision to include specific language pertaining to aggregators in the 2015 Union Budget that will drive improvements to tax compliance,” said a statement given by an Uber spokesperson to the Economic Times.  This new proposal to include online commerce industry under the ambit of the new service tax can be seen as a result of intense discussions that have been taking place between Uber and the Indian Tax authorities over the last few months. The Tax authorities of India questioned Uber last year over the payment of service tax in the country.

Until recently, the service tax rules did not imply on the web based aggregators. According to Uber India, this new proposal will ensure that there is transparency in the flow of tax revenues directly to the Indian government.  On the other hand, OlaCabs is hopeful that such new rules will bring the foreign players and domestic players on a level playing field and give them equal chance to grow and flourish.

As per the new rules introduced in the Budget 2015, even if such web based aggregators employ just a country head or liaison, their officials will still be liable to pay service tax on the behalf of the company.

These new service tax rules will also be applicable to classifieds players, deal websites and online aggregators like Stayzilla, Quikr, Cashkaro, Zomato, Mydala, FoodPanda, Housing and Olx

Ola Buys Rival TaxiForSure For $200 Million

Mobile app based online cab booking service Ola has bought rival TaxiForSure for $200 million in a cash-and-equity deal. Notably, TaxiForSure is India's second largest cab aggregator and this is first merger and acquisition (M&A) in the taxi service aggregator space.

This acquisition deal by Ola is among the biggest in India's startup industry after Flipkart's purchase of Myntra for about $300 million in May last year.

Ola and TaxiForSure will continue to operate as separate entities, said a statement. The leadership and all of the 1700 employees shall continue to work with TaxiForSure, with Arvind Singhal (currently COO) being appointed the CEO. Aprameya Radhakrishna and Raghunandan G, the founders of TaxiForSure, will contribute in an advisory role for a certain period.

TaxiForSure currently operates in 47 cities with over 15,000 vehicles registered on its platform. With the acquisition, investors in TaxiForSure will roll over their stock into Ola, the company said.

According to Raghunandan G, Co-founder and CEO, TaxiForSure the brands coming together will provide more opportunity than ever to do what they do best. "Post this acquisition; the combined entity will be strong enough and better capitalized to offer the best value to all our stakeholders, including our customers. This development ensures that industry attractiveness is preserved and the combined entity can race ahead and continue to create unprecedented value for all stakeholders."

Ola has been funded by Tiger Global, Matrix Partners, Sequoia Capital, Steadview Capital and most recently, Japan's Softbank over its four rounds of fund-raising. Investors in TaxiForSure are Accel Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners and Helion Venture Partners.

Ola To Get $500 Mn Funding From DST Global At $2.5 Billion Valuation

Indian home-grown ridesharing app company Ola Cabs is all set to get between $400 million and $500 million Russian billionaire Yuri Milner's investment fund DST Global. Ola is in advance talk stage for getting this whopping investment which could make Ola to be valued at $2.5 billion.

The funding speculation comes on the back of Ola's acquisition of TaxiForSure, making the combined entity the largest tech-backed cab aggregator service in the country.

The final terms of the financing deal are currently being negotiated, as per reports. The latest round of fund-raise for Ola puts it right up in the league of the most valuable internet firms in India.

In May 2014, DST Global invested $200 million in Flipkart. DST Global has already made investments in China's largest cab-hailing app company KuaiDi Dache, which is backed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Japan's SoftBank Corp.

E-Commerce giant Flipkart is currently valued at over $11 billion while Snapdeal valued at $2-billion post investment of SoftBank Corp. Ola's $210-million fund-raise, led by Japan's SoftBank Corp in October last year, valued it at around $650 million (pre-investment).

DST Global, Milner is an investor in Facebook, Zynga, Twitter, Flipkart, Spotify, ZocDoc, Groupon, 360Buy.com, Planet Labs, and Alibaba.

Snapdeal & Ola Refuses Softbank's Buy-out Offer

As SoftBank, the Japan based Internet and telecom giant, was busy locking its funding deals with taxi aggregator Ola and e-commerce giant Snapdeal last month, it apparently also gave them an offer of buying out the share of their angels and early venture capital investors. And, if some sources are to be believed, most of them bluntly denied the offer.

It must have been a really difficult decision on the part of the investors but most of them at this point of time have returns of hundred times their investment on paper and they see this value growing further.

"I haven't sold any shares so far. If someone is offering a valuation which I expect the company to reach in the next two years, then I can think about it," said Anupam Mittal, founder, People Group in a statement to the Economic Times.  People Group is one of the early investors of Ola. He further added, “Investments like Ola come once in a lifetime”.

Early capital investors holding on to their winners in the risk capital business has now become like a norm. According to data available from VCCEdge, a financial research platform, since the year 2011 the Indian ecommerce and online business has had over 694 investments totaling about $5.56 billion. But during the same period of time, there have only been 45 exits worth $295 million.

Ola, the taxi aggregator, is a four year old startup whose valuation has increased by more than 10 times in the past one year. The company was valued at $180 million in July this year when Steadview Capital, a Hong Kong based hedge fund, led a funding round. The latest investment from SoftBank has skyrocketed the company’s valuation to a whopping $650 million. These figures clearly explain why the early investors are holding on to their bets in these companies.  Ola’s early backers include Snapdeal co-founders Rohit Bansal, Kunal Bahl, Rehan Yar Khan and Powai Lake Ventures.

On the other hand, the early venture capital investors in the ecommerce giant Snapdeal are sitting on at least 8-10 times the capital invested. The latest funding round valued Snapdeal at $2 billion and its investors believe that the company has a potential of reaching $5-10 billion in the near future.

Snapdeal & Ola Refuses Softbank's Buy-out Offer

As SoftBank, the Japan based Internet and telecom giant, was busy locking its funding deals with taxi aggregator Ola and e-commerce giant Snapdeal last month, it apparently also gave them an offer of buying out the share of their angels and early venture capital investors. And, if some sources are to be believed, most of them bluntly denied the offer.

It must have been a really difficult decision on the part of the investors but most of them at this point of time have returns of hundred times their investment on paper and they see this value growing further.

"I haven't sold any shares so far. If someone is offering a valuation which I expect the company to reach in the next two years, then I can think about it," said Anupam Mittal, founder, People Group in a statement to the Economic Times.  People Group is one of the early investors of Ola. He further added, “Investments like Ola come once in a lifetime”.

Early capital investors holding on to their winners in the risk capital business has now become like a norm. According to data available from VCCEdge, a financial research platform, since the year 2011 the Indian ecommerce and online business has had over 694 investments totaling about $5.56 billion. But during the same period of time, there have only been 45 exits worth $295 million.

Ola, the taxi aggregator, is a four year old startup whose valuation has increased by more than 10 times in the past one year. The company was valued at $180 million in July this year when Steadview Capital, a Hong Kong based hedge fund, led a funding round. The latest investment from SoftBank has skyrocketed the company’s valuation to a whopping $650 million. These figures clearly explain why the early investors are holding on to their bets in these companies.  Ola’s early backers include Snapdeal co-founders Rohit Bansal, Kunal Bahl, Rehan Yar Khan and Powai Lake Ventures.

On the other hand, the early venture capital investors in the ecommerce giant Snapdeal are sitting on at least 8-10 times the capital invested. The latest funding round valued Snapdeal at $2 billion and its investors believe that the company has a potential of reaching $5-10 billion in the near future.

The State Of Online Cab Booking In India [Infographics]

The car rental space in India is making its presence felt online by offering cab booking straight from website and mobile apps of online cab service providers. After e-commerce, the taxi booking space is seen as the next big thing by investors also.

Leading providers of online cab booking service in India are Olacabs, Merucabs, TaxiForSure, TaxiGuide and BookCab who offer mobile apps for different platforms including Android, iOS and Windows Phone which makes cab booking a breeze requiring just a few touches of your fingers.

We can categorize online cab booking service providers in two categories - Cab Operators and CaB Aggregators, where cab operators are - MeruCabs, EasyCabs, MegaCabs, in 'Cab Aggregators' falls online service providers like OlaCabs, BookCab, Savaari,TaxiForSure and TaxiGuide.

With recent $210-million investment from Japan-based SoftBank Corp, online cab aggregator Ola (earlier known as Olacabs) has made aggressive plans to spread its wings across the country

BookCab gives an interesting insight over online cab booking market in India which includes their geographical coverage in India as follow:

Olacabs raised Rs 250 crore funds from Sequoia Capital & Steadview Capital

Mumbai based car rental startup has raised fresh Rs.250 crore of funding from India focused-hedge fund Steadview Capital and Silicon Valley's VC firm Sequoia Capital and this made 3-year old Olacabs valuation of over Rs 1,000 crore.

The money raised would be used to quickly expand Olacabs services into new cities, categories and strengthen the cab aggregators' driver ecosystem in a highly competitive market. The startup has raised around $65 million of funds in three rounds of institutional funding.

Earlier in November last year Olacabs have raised undisclosed amount in Series B funding from Matrix Partners India and Tiger Global Management. Raised Rs.2 crore angel round in 2011 and the subsequent 40 crore Series A funding from Tiger Global Management in April 2012.

Olacabs' valuation has more than doubled since November last year when it got on board Matrix Partners in a Rs 120-crore fund-raise. Now Olacabs has joined 1000 crore club of India with other internet startups players such as Quikr, Zomato and Bookmyshow and this exclude billion-dollar club members such as Flipkart and Snapdeal.

Notably, Sequoia Capital has also invested in Zomato which also have valuation of more than Rs.100 crore.

Olacabs, which works on the marketplace model, has 11,000 cabs across nine cities on its platform and is said to be clocking 12,000 bookings per day, 50% of which are through its mobile app. Olacabs is the first cab service in India to launch a mobile app to book and monitor cabs.

As reported to TOI, Olacabs work on the asset-light model where, instead of owning the fleet themselves, they facilitate driver entrepreneurship. Ola, in fact, helps drivers in financing loans at lower interest rates for the purchase of their cars and has tie-ups with car manufacturers.

The overall Indian cab market, estimated at about $4 billion and Olacabs is growing 30% month-on-month.

Car rental aggregator Olacabs raised funding from Matrix and Tiger Global

Olacabs, a car rentals aggregator and point-to-point cab services today announced that it has raised Series B funding from Matrix Partners India and existing investor, Tiger Global Management.

Olacabs is based out Mumbai provide car rental services online via web and mobile apps and currently has services in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Pune. The amount of funding received has not been disclosed however as per Business Standard it is estimated to be around $20 million.

Olacabs will use the funds invested to expand their operations to newer markets and to deepen its technology and analytics expertise, said the company. Olacabs had earlier raised Rs.2 crore angel round in 2011 and the subsequent 40 crore Series A funding from Tiger Global Management in April 2012.

Reportedly Olacabs is the first cab service in India to launch a mobile app to book and monitor cabs.

Olacabs mobile apps for Android and iPhone it offers city taxi rides on a point to point basis from the cities of Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore. Olacabs is changing the way you move around in your city with personal transportation options like taxis and cab rentals in India.

Olacabs was founded in January 2011 by two IIT Bombay alumni Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati. Through its Olacabs mobile apps for Android and iPhone the customers can book available cabs and track their progress until they reach the pickup location. Blackberry versions for olacabs will be launched soon.

Olacabs attend to over 10,000 customer calls per day and have more than 5000 cabs on its platform and around 1500 operators have tied up with the company across 4 major cities which are - Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bangalore and Pune.