Ola raises $11 million in series J round
Source: LiveMint
ANI Technologies-owned Cab aggregator Ola has raised $11 million in its ongoing Series J round from investors such as Swedish-based DIG Investment Ab, US-based Deshe Holdings, and individual investors, including Samih Toukan and Hussam Khoury, both of who are co-founders of Dubai-based technology investment firm Jabbar Internet Group, according to documents sourced from business information platform Paper.vc
"The current round of allotments appears to be part of Ola's ongoing $472 million Series J round of financing that includes a $238 million investment by Hyundai Motor Company and a $62 million investment by KIA Motors Corporation," said Vivek Durai, founder, Paper.vc.
Over the past few months, Ola has been raising capital in tranches as part of its broader discussions to raise $1 billion in fresh funds. The company had earlier secured $100 million from Sachin Bansal in January this year in its ongoing Series J round, which was also Bansal’s first major investment after his exit from Flipkart.
With new names like Jabbar Internet surfacing in the ongoing round, it can be seen as an effort to diversify Ola’s investor base. Ola’s founder Bhavish Aggarwal is considered to be in a long-drawn boardroom battle with its largest shareholder, SoftBank, which had offered to invest more in Ola and increase its stake in the ride-hailing platform. The Economic Times reported in December that SoftBank had offered to invest $1 billion in fresh capital into Ola.
Ola, which has a valuation of over $5 billion, has so far raised funding from institutional investors like SoftBank, Sequoia Capital, Accel, and from automakers like Kia Motors and Hyundai in the past.
