Ahead of IPO, Ola shows significant growth in revenue (and other top stories of the day)

Valued at a little over $6 billion and having raised over $3.5 billion from the likes of Temasek Holdings, Tiger Global, Softbank, and Matrix Partners, Ola is now present in 250 cities across India, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.

Tuesday December 03, 2019 , 4 min Read

At YourStory's annual flagship event, TechSparks 2019, Ola Co-founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal confirmed that the ride-sharing unicorn is eyeing an initial public offering (IPO) in the next two years.

At the time, Bhavish told YourStory Founder and CEO Shradha Sharma that he was "absolutely focussed" on taking the company public.

And he sure wasn't kidding.

Ahead of the much-awaited IPO filing, Ola has reported a significant 38 percent jump in its FY19 operational revenue to Rs 2543.63 crore from a year ago. Losses for the period narrowed to Rs 2592.92 crore in FY19, versus Rs. 2842.6 crore a year earlier.

"Today, we are running our business profitably in India and there is no vanity metrics. It's the real bottom-line. We've built a stable business and now we want to go global," Bhavish told YourStory.

Valued at a little over $6 billion and having raised over $3.5 billion from the likes of Temasek Holdings, Tiger Global, Softbank, and Matrix Partners, Ola is now present in 250 cities across India, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.

It hasn’t stopped there.

In recent times, the company has branched out by foraying into the cloud kitchen segment and building an electric vehicle entity, Ola Electric, which is also a unicorn.

"Our ambition is to build an Indian consumer business on a global scale. Today, there are no Indian brands on a global scale and it’s not because we couldn’t do it, the stars just didn’t align. The domestic market is complex, but in the next decade, there will be several Indian brands, and in mobility, we want to be the leading player," Bhavish told us.

OYO elevates Aditya Ghosh to the board, Rohit Kapoor to new India CEO

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Lani Zena Fernandes is revving up for an exciting career in motorsport

Lani Zena Fernandez in action. (Image source: Lani Zena Fernandez Facebook page)

Lani, 22, is riding her passion, literally. In 2018, she took part in the TVS One-Make Championship and also made news in the biking community when she raced with a broken finger, and her corner-riding skills were copied by others. Here is the story of the new woman on the circuit.

5 reasons why this was the ‘year of gaming’ in India

A large young population and increasing internet penetration have made India the top gaming market among emerging economies. From the meteoric rise of fantasy sports to the growth of small-town players, 2019 was, quite literally, a game-changer.

How Radha Arakkal is bringing a social change in West Bengal

Social Story — Radha Arakkal along with the women of the social organisation in West Bengal

Radha Arakkal left a cushy, corporate job to help create social impact. Since 2018, Radha has been working as a freelance consultant in the social sector and is at present mentoring Swapnopuron Welfare Society’s English medium school for 120 children at Hingalganj in North 24 Parganas, a district in West Bengal.

This Mumbai startup sold 8 tonnes of tea in just 12 months

Shariq Ashraf and Bhuman Dani, Co-Founders, The Good Life Company — **Shariq Ashraf** and **Bhuman Dani, Co-Founders, The Good Life Company**

Brought together by their shared love for brewed goodness, the story of Mumbai-based Bhuman Dani and Shariq Ashraf is one of serendipiTEA. The Good Life Company is filling the gap in the Indian specialty tea and coffee market. The brand is already present in India and the UAE, and soon plans to expand to the UK and EU markets.

How Bengaluru-based William Penn has grown to Rs 100 Cr turnover

Launched as a word-class alternative to the neighbourhood stationery store, Bengaluru-based William Penn now has its own label and products, tie-ups with premium brands like Cross, Waterman, and Sheaffer, and a turnover of Rs 100 crore.

UPI touches record transactions in November

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) announced in a tweet that UPI clocked 1.22 billion transactions worth Rs 1.89 lakh crore for the month. That is an increase of 6 percent in the number of transactions, but a marginal decline of 1.1 percent in the transaction value.

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