[Funding alert] Ola raises Rs 35.88 Cr from Seoul-based ‘pre-IPO’ fund

Bengaluru-based ride-hailing unicorn Ola has raised Rs 35.88 crore from an investment fund named ‘ARK Ola Pre-IPO Private Investment Trust’, indicating that the company might have started preparing for public listing.

In July last year, Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO and Co-founder of Ola, had said that he and Co-founder Ankit Bhati were aiming for an IPO in the next three years.

According to RoC filings accessed by YourStory, Ola has issued 16,885 Series ‘J’ Preference Shares at a premium of Rs 21,240 each, on August 29.

The company’s valuation is said to be $6.3 billion with this funding. It plans to use the latest capital for general business purposes.

This July, the firm also received $11.37 million (Rs 79.93 crore) as part of its ongoing Series J round from investors such as Swedish-based DIG Investment Ab, US-based Deshe Holdings, and Samih Abdel Rahman and Hussam Khoury, the two founders of Dubai-based technology investment firm Jabbar Internet Group. 

Ola, which plans to raise close to $1 billion as part of its ongoing fundraising exercise, has already received a commitment of nearly $490 million so far for this round, including the latest one. 

Earlier this year, Ola received $74 million led by Steadview Capital, followed by a $100 million investment from Flipkart co-founder and former CEO Sachin Bansal, and a $300 million funding announcement from Korean automotive giants Hyundai and Kia Motors. 

Founded in December 2010 by IIT-Bombay alumni Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, Ola has raised total capital of over $3.8 billion so far. It is also backed by marquee investors such as SoftBank and Ratan Tata among others.

This month, Ola’s electric mobility unit, Ola Electric, secured an undisclosed amount from automakers Hyundai and Kia Motors. In July 2019, Ola Electric also raised $250 million from SoftBank and marked its entry into the Indian unicorn club. 

(Edited by Teja Lele Desai)

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