Ola declares $500 m pre-IPO investment from Singapore-based Temasek Holdings

India’s own ride-hailing start-up, Ola, is raising $500 million from Singapore-based Temasek Holdings and Plum Wood Investment Ltd, an affiliate of Warburg Pincus, ahead of a planned initial public offering (IPO).

Ola co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Bhavish Aggarwal is also investing during the fresh round of investments, Ola said in a statement on Friday (July 9).

The company has not declared the launch date for its much-awaited IPO, but said the Indian start-up is geared up to go beyond geographies.

“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. I welcome Warburg Pincus and Temasek to Ola and look forward to collaborating with them in our next phase of growth,” said Bhavish Aggarwal.

Vishal Mahadevia, the managing director at Warburg Pincus India, said, “Warburg is excited to partner with Bhavish and Ola. They are the leading mobility platform and one of biggest consumer internet platforms in India with a robust and fast growing business. We look forward to collaborating with Bhavish and the team in the next phase of Ola’s growth.”

This isn’t Temasek’s first investment in Ola though. The Singapore-based venture pumped in $225 million in 2018. However, this is the first investment in the Soft Bank-promoted company in the last two years. Neither Ola nor Temasek shared details of the fresh round of investments.

Also read: Enter Ola e-scooters: 500-acre plant by 2022 in TN’s Krishnagiri to be world’s largest

Uber is Ola’s closest competitor in the Indian mobility market, though the latter is way of ahead of it in the number of active users on Android. Ola had about 32 million monthly active users on Android in India in June, up from about 26 million in May. Uber had about 22 million Indian users on Android in June, up from 18 million in May.

Ola has a presence in more than 100 cities across India and boasts of million + driver partners on its platform. It crossed the geographical barrier a few years back and expanded its business to Australia, New Zealand and the UK.

A few days back, Aggarwal declared that phase 1 of its electric scooter manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu, under its Ola Electric division, will be completed soon.