Ahead of IPO, Ola's COO and CFO to exit the company

Swayam Saurabh and Gaurav Porwal are leaving the company, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters

SoftBank-backed Indian ride-hailing firm Ola's Chief Financial Officer Swayam Saurabh and Chief Operating Officer Gaurav Porwal are leaving the company, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.

The departures come at a time when there have been reports on Ola's plans to raise up to $1 billion through an initial public offering in the next few months.

The company did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The ride-hailing startup has selected banks including Citigroup Inc. and Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. to manage its Mumbai initial public offering that could raise about $1 billion, Bloomberg reported in August.

The company, backed by SoftBank Group Corp. and Tiger Global Management, has also picked Morgan Stanley for the listing, said people aware of the development. The Bangalore-based startup could seek a valuation of more than $8 billion in the IPO and could lodge a filing as soon as October, one of the people said.

The 11-year-old Ola would be joining a strong pipeline of Indian startups that are ready to tap the IPO market in the coming months. Paytm, the country’s leader in digital payments, Flipkart, the Indian e-commerce giant controlled by Walmart Inc., and digital education startup Byju’s are also preparing for their first-time share sales, Bloomberg News has reported.

Details of Ola’s IPO including size and timeline could still change as deliberations are ongoing, the people said. More banks could be added later, they said.

Ola currently partners with about 1.5 million drivers across 250 cities in India, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. The Uber Technologies Inc.’s rival in July raised $500 million from investors including Temasek Holdings Pte and an affiliate of Warburg Pincus.