Ola Employees Will Get Rs 320 Cr As Stock Options; Gives Rs 2000 Freebies For London Customers!

The cab-hailing unicorn Ola is all set to extend their Employee Stock Options (ESOPs) by adding Rs 326.45 cr with a further issue of 1,536,230 equity shares.

Ola has finally launched their operations in London!

Read to find out more…

Good News for the Ola Employees!

The faith in Employee Stock Options (ESOPs) has increased as many companies are allowing employees to divest their part of holding in secondary transactions. 

The cab-hailing company is looking to go public within a year or two.The company’s parent ANI Technologies in its general meeting on December 24, 2019, attempted to expand its ESOPs pool. The filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs indicate that 10 ESOP stock options of Ola are equivalent to one equity share with a face value of Rs 10 each. 

By doing this, Ola joins the league of Unacademy, Byju’s, Zerodhan Bounce and Paytm who have extended their ESOP allocation in the past six months. 

To reduce many  inefficiencies, the company handed pink slips to over 1,000 employees recently. It’s also facing mass departure after the departure of many top-level employees, Naroo Krishnan, head of products at Ola Mobility and Sanjay Kharb also moved from the company last month.

The company Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati is now offering its services across 50 cities in India, UK, Australia and New Zealand. According to a source, alongside, many more employees will be transitioned to other parts of Ola’s empire like Ola Electric, Ola Foods, Ola Financial Services etc.

Ola Excited About London!

Ola launched its services in London on Monday February 10, 2020, with over 25,000 registered drivers.

The Head of Ola International, Simon Smith said, “We are thrilled to now be live in London. This is a major milestone for our business and represents the next step in our ambitions to connect people in cities throughout the country.”

The Indian based company, has started functioning in London by providing three categories of Comfort, Comfort XL and Exec ride classes. The  focus would be on offering a differentiated service to Londoners, focus on safety, quality, reliability and a collaborative approach with local authorities and regulators.

The company entered the UK market in 2018 starting with Wales and then south-west England. To recruit London drivers joining the platform will benefit from six weeks of zero commission and market-leading commission rates thereafter, so they can benefit from keeping more of their earnings.

The company said, “Ola’s commission commitment ensures drivers always receive the best commission rate in each market. Ola will continue its collaborative approach with Transport for London and local authorities, as well as its clear focus on safety, drawing on industry-leading and global best practices.” 

Ola has signed three partnerships. Ola’s partnership with DriveTech will aim at improving the level of driving skills and knowledge of all drivers on Ola in London. The partnership with Pearson will ensure every Ola driver in London has passed the Versant spoken English test, from education experts Pearson plc. An assurance of a high level of communication in English with the passengers. Finally the partnership with Mercer will ensure that each driver has completed Ola’s Customer Service Test, developed with global selection experts Mercer which proves they have the skills and mindset to deliver a great experience to their passengers.

The company said, “Ola is raising the standards of safety in the UK ride-hailing industry and bringing global best practice to the market. In a number of pioneering moves for the UK, Ola is launching its flagship global safety feature, ‘Guardian’, which uses AI and machine learning to automatically detect irregular vehicle activity, a ‘Start Code’ feature to ensure customers and drivers are correctly matched, 24/7 voice support for riders and drivers, and a cap of six penalty points for drivers on its platform.” 

To celebrate its launch in London, Ola said its first few passengers who will sign up in the first week after launch will benefit from up to Rs 2000 worth of ride vouchers