Ola, the IPO-bound ride-hailing startup, has secured around $139 million (~Rs 1,048.6 crore) in its ongoing Series J funding round from a group of investors that includes IIFL, Edelweiss, and Sunil Munjal’s Hero Enterprise, according to regulatory filings shared by business intelligence firm Tofler.
Twenty other investors, including IndiaMART founder Brijesh Kumar Agrawal and household cosmetics company Vicco Group, participated in the latest tranche, which also saw the participation from financial corporations, family offices, individuals, and strategic investors.
According to the filings, Ola has issued 4,63,471 Series J1 Compulsorily Convertible Preference Shares (CCPS) at a premium price of Rs 22,625 per share in a pre-IPO funding round. Edelweiss has invested around Rs 250 crore, IIFL has infused around Rs 187.5 crore, while Hero Enterprise has invested roughly Rs 112.5 crore. Ola has also allocated shares worth Rs 100 crore to former Zandu promoters Parikh family and Siddhant Partners, as well as shares worth Rs 50 crore to Biovet, an animal health vaccine producing company.
Ashutosh and Sanjeev Taparia of Famy Care Group have been allocated shares worth Rs 13 crore each, while Vicco Group has been issued shares worth Rs 10 crore. The funding values the ride-hailing startup at over $7 billion.
This funding comes after the Bengaluru-based startup secured $500 million in July this year, led by private equity behemoths Temasek Holdings and Warburg Pincus. Ola is also looking to raise $500 million in debt through a Term Loan B, following in the footsteps of Byju’s and OYO.
Ola’s founder, Bhavish Aggarwal, officially confirmed the company’s IPO plans in August. Aggarwal previously stated that the company seeks to list both Ola and Ola Electric on stock exchanges. However, Aggarwal stated that Ola will be listed first because the company is more mature than Ola Electric, which was founded three years ago. Ola Electric is getting a lot of attention right now since the company has already delayed the delivery of its S1 and S1 pro electric scooters.
Ola has also completed the acquisition of Pune-based geospatial services provider – GeoSpoc for Rs 26 crore (~$3.5 million), according to a separate regulatory filing. The ride-hailing company announced the acquisition last month but did not release any financial information about the deal.
Ola, which was hard hit by the covid pandemic, saw a 63 percent drop in operational revenue to Rs 983.2 crore in the fiscal year that ended in March 2021. During this time, the company’s overall expenses plummeted from Rs 5,058 crore to Rs 2,007 crore, resulting in a 49 percent reduction in losses to Rs 1,116 crore.
