Ola Electric Mobility Unit Raises Rs. 400 Crores in First Funding Round

Ola Electric Mobility Pvt Ltd, a company backed by Indian ride-hailing platform Ola, said on Friday it raised Rs. 400 crores (roughly $56.4 million) in a funding round led by several of Ola's early investors including Tiger Global and Matrix India.

This is the first round of investment for Ola Electric, which currently runs several pilots to deploy electric vehicles and charging solutions.

The announcement comes a day after India's cabinet approved a scheme to spend $1.4 billion to subsidise sales of electric and hybrid vehicles as part of efforts to curb pollution and reduce dependency on fossil fuels.

Ola last year said it planned to bring 1 million electric vehicles to Indian roads in a few years.

In a press statement, Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-founder & CEO, Ola said, "At Ola Electric, our mission is to enable sustainable mobility for everyone. India can leapfrog problems of pollution and energy security by moving to electric mobility, create millions of new jobs and economic opportunity, and lead the world." He added, "I'm excited to partner with Lee and Avnish again, and look forward to recreating a very successful partnership and a transformative business!"

Lee Fixel, Partner, Tiger Global Management added, "We are excited to invest in Ola Electric Mobility, which we believe is the early front-runner in this space and well-positioned to build the ecosystem for electric mobility. As Ola's first institutional investors, we are excited to begin this new journey with Ola Electric and partner in creating yet another impactful mobility business."

Avnish Bajaj, Founder and MD, Matrix India also said, "We couldn't be more excited in repeating our successful early partnership with Ola, with our investment in Ola Electric Mobility. Ola's vision about the role of electric mobility, especially in India for sustainable development, and the approach to making it work at scale is unique. We are privileged to be a partner on this journey!"

Anand Shah, Head of Ola Electric Mobility said, "The first problem to solve in electric mobility is charging: users need a dependable, convenient, and affordable replacement for the petrol pump. By making electric easy for commercial vehicles that deliver a disproportionate share of kilometres travelled, we can jumpstart the electric vehicle revolution."

© Thomson Reuters 2019