Ratan Tata invests in Ola Electric as a part of its Series A round

Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus, Tata Sons has invested in Ola Electric as a part of the entity's Series A funding. Ola Electric had raised Rs 400 crore in March this year.

Ola’s early investors, Tiger Global and Matrix India and others, had also invested in Ola Electric as part of its first round of investment. In 2018, Ola subsequently announced ‘Mission: Electric’ to bring 1 million Electric Vehicles on Indian roads by 2021.

Speaking on his investment, Ratan Tata, said in a press statement,

“The electric vehicle ecosystem is evolving dramatically every day, and I believe Ola Electric will play a key role in its growth and development. I have always admired the vision of Bhavish Aggarwal and I’m confident that this will be part of yet another important strategic move into this new business area.”

Also read: Ola confirms Rs 400 Cr funding for EV unit Ola Electric led by Tiger Global, Matrix Partners

Ola Electric is currently running several pilots involving charging solutions, battery swapping stations, and deploying vehicles across two, three, and four-wheeler segments. 

Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-founder and CEO, Ola said in a press statement,

“Mr Tata has been an inspiration and a mentor to me personally in shaping Ola’s journey over the years. I’m very excited to welcome him on board Ola Electric as an investor and a mentor in our mission of building sustainable mobility for everyone on our planet. He is a visionary who has inspired a generation of entrepreneurs and we are privileged to have his guidance and support once again, as we work towards our goal of a million electric vehicles in India by 2021.”

Ola Electric plans to make electric mobility a reality at scale. The release also stated that it has partnered with several Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and battery manufacturers. Ola Electric intends to work closely with the automotive industry to create seamless solutions for electric vehicle operations.

The ride hailing aggregator has already raised $74 million led by Steadview Capital as part of the larger $2 billion round. Two years after Ola launched a programme to build an electric mass mobility ecosystem in Nagpur in partnership with Mahindra, the firm now aims to expand this across the country. Last April, it also announced Mission: Electric, committing to place over 10,000 e-rickshaws and electric auto-rickshaws on the road in the next 12 months. 

Ola is already present across over 11 categories in 110 cities in India, and claims to have over 125 million users in the country. The team claims to have over one million driver-partners in India and, on an aggregate basis, claims to serve as many as a billion rides annually through its platform. 

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