[Updated: 16th April 2015]
Ola today officially announced that they have raised Series E round of funding of $400mn led by DST Global with participation from GIC, Falcon Edge Capital and existing investors SoftBank Group, Tiger Global, Steadview Capital and Accel Partners US.
We had previously published (see below) that the total funding was around $315 million, but it is $400 million. In a press release sent to us, Ola has said, “The additional investment will allow Ola to go deeper into smaller cities to build personal transportation ground-up. The company will continue to invest in building cutting edge technology to suit the needs of drivers and customers as well as invest in the driver ecosystem. While the spread of categories like Ola Mini, Sedan, Prime, Auto-rickshaws and Taxis have quickly evolved over the past year, Ola aims to further localize its offerings for the benefit of citizens and driver partners in every market. Ola plans to be in 200 cities by the end of this year.”
Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-founder & CEO, Ola said, “DST Global, GIC and Falcon Edge have been partners in some of the leading Internet success stories globally and we are excited about having them onboard. Our vision is that people shouldn’t find the need to own a car. And we have been able to make this possible for millions of customers in the past four years and creating over a hundred thousand driver entrepreneurs on the platform. With increasing smartphone penetration and immense growth in smaller cities and towns, we will be able to drive the benefits of this on-demand platform deeper into the lives of our customers and partners.”
Written Earlier…
Rumours of Ola Cabs raising $500 Million have been around for couple of months now. However, it is now confirmed according to company filings with Registrar of Companies that ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd., the company behind Olacabs has raised $315 million Series E round of funding led by Yuri Milner’s DST Global.
The latest funding round closed last week and company filings show that company has issued Series G of Preference Shares to DST Global, Steadview Capital, Accel partners and few others.
A total of Rs. 1952 crores ($315 million) have been raised by Ola just 4 months after they raised $210 million from Softbank. In this round DST global umbrella funds have led the round investing little over USD 206 million. Existing investors Tiger Global has invested USD 40.65 million, Steadview Capital invested 10.5 million and Accel Investors around $5 million. Other investors include ABG Capital, Mauritius Investments Ltd. and Rahul Mehta.
Here are the complete details of Ola Series E funding:
| INVESTING ENTITY | FUND HOUSE | INVESTMENT AMOUNT |
|---|---|---|
| DST Asia IV | DST Global | INR 629.76 Crores (~$101.5 M) |
| DST Global IV Co-Invest Ltd. | DST Global | INR 94.27 Crores (~$15.2 M) |
| DST Investments XII Ltd. | DST Global | INR 428.36 Crores (~$69 M) |
| Apoletto Asia Ltd | DST Global | INR 134.27 Crores (~$21.65 M) |
| Internet Fund III Pte. Ltd. | Tiger Global | INR 252.03 Crores (~$40.65 M) |
| FO Mauritius I Ltd. | – | INR 157.28 Crores (~$25.36 M) |
| OC Mauritius Investments Ltd. | – | INR 125.70 Crores (~$20.27 M) |
| Steadview Capital Mauritius Ltd | Steadview Capital | INR 40.63 Crores (~$6.55 M) |
| LTR Focus Fund | Steadview Capital | INR 24.60 Crores (~$3.96 M) |
| Accel Growth III Holdings (Mauritius) Ltd. | Accel Partners | INR 31.42 Crores (~$5.07 M) |
| ABG Capital | – | INR 29.20 Crores (~$4.7 M) |
| Rahul Mehta | – | INR 4.60 Crores (~$740 k) |
| INR 1952 Crores (~$315 M) |
[Source]
Funds Raised By Ola Till Date – USD 592 Million
| Round | Who Funded | Date | Amount |
| First Round | N/A | April 2011 | USD 330,000 |
| Second Round | Tiger Global | 2012 | USD 5,000,000 |
| Third Round | Matrix Partners, Tiger Global | 2013 | USD 20,000,000 |
| Fourth Round | Steadview Capital | July 2014 | USD 41,500,000 |
| Fifth Round | Softbank & Existing investors | Oct 2014 | USD 210,000,000 |
| Sixth Round | DST Global, Steadview & existing investors | April 2015 | USD 315,000,000 |
| Total | USD 591,830,000 |
In addition to this VC funding rounds, the company had also raised close to USD 126 million in March 2015 as convertible preference shares from Helion, Accel, Bessemer, Tiger Global and others. Considering this Ola cabs has raised a total of USD 718 million funding till date!
