[Funding alert] Ola Electric raises over $200M at $3B valuation

Ola's electric vehicle (EV) division, Ola Electric, raised over $200 million led by Falcon Edge, Softbank and others, at a valuation of $3 billion.

Speaking on the occasion, Bhavish Aggarwal, Chairman and Group CEO, Ola, said “We’re proud to lead the EV revolution from India to the world. India has the talent and the capability to build technologies of the future for the industries of the future for the entire world. I thank our existing investors and welcome new ones to Ola. Together, we will bring mobility to a billion and sustainability to the future.”

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The startup aims to accelerate the development of other vehicle platforms, including electric motorbikes, mass-market scooters, and electric cars. The company stated the announcement will further strengthen Ola’s “Mission Electric” — which urges the industry and consumers to commit to EVs, and ensure that no petrol two-wheelers should be sold in India after 2025. 

It added that the fund raise comes at a time when Ola has already set the benchmark in two-wheeler sales by selling over $150 million of scooters in its first purchase window — outselling the entire two-wheeler industry on each of the two days.

Spelling out Ola's mobility vision in a blog, Bhavish noted that the company is building a new ecosystem, keeping the customer at the core.

"The IC engine, automobiles and the related ecosystem is a remnant of the past and assumes unsustainably high ownership of vehicles manufactured by OEMs, and sold through dealers. Consumers have been downgraded to being just a cog in this giant wheel. This is best indicated by Henry Ford's — 'You can have whatever colour you want, as long as it's black'. Try saying that to an ecommerce customer today!" he stated.

Ola Electric has built its Futurefactory, the largest and one of the most advanced 2W factories in the world that completed its phase I construction and is currently undergoing production trials. Ola Futurefactory is also the world’s largest factory that is entirely run by women. At full scale, it will have over 10,000 women employed.

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