Ola Electric raises another $200 million
The Indian electric vehicle manufacturer Ola Electric has raised over 200 million US dollars (around 173 million euros) in a new financing round to date. With the new capital, the eMobility offshoot of Indian ride-hailing giant Ola aims to accelerate the development of new platforms for electric motorcycles, scooters and cars.
According to a statement from Ola Electric, the yet-to-be-closed funding round is currently led by Falcon Edge Capital. Among the other backers is existing investor SoftBank. In the wake of the new influx of funds, the Bangalore-based company says it is now valued at 3 billion US dollars. The group is said to be considering an IPO, according to media reports.
Ola Electric says it will use the new funds to push the launch for electric motorbikes, scooters and cars. The company had only introduced its new electric scooter S1 in August, which will not only be launched in India, but will also be exported for the first time. Ola now says that units of the S1 worth 150 million US dollars (about 130 million euros) were sold in just two days.
“We’re proud to lead the EV revolution from India to the world. India has the talent and the capability to build technologies of the future for the industries of the future for the entire world,” said Bhavish Aggarwal, Founder and Managing Director of the entire Ola Group and Ola Electric on the occasion of the investor commitments.
In addition to electric scooter production, Ola also wants to become active in the charging infrastructure sector for two-wheelers. The company has in mind the development of an exclusive network based on the Tesla model, but also the launch of mobile home charging solutions. Both the chargers for the network and the scooters are to be built in a production facility that Ola is currently building at record speed in Tamil Nadu. Ola is aiming for an annual production capacity of ten million electric two-wheelers there by 2023. The first stage of expansion is said to have been completed by now and the plant is in test mode.
“Electric is the future of mobility and we are reimagining the entire user experience of owning an electric vehicle,” Aggarwal said back in the spring, referring to his group’s transformation from a pure ride broker to an electric vehicle and charging infrastructure provider. “Our plans to build a comprehensive charging network is a key piece of this. By creating the world’s largest and densest 2-wheeler charging network, we will dramatically accelerate the customer adoption of electric vehicles and rapidly move the industry to electric.”
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