Ola picks banks for $1 billion IPO, may file papers in Oct: Report

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, people familiar with the matter said

Ride-hailing startup Ola has selected banks including Citigroup Inc. and Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. to manage its Mumbai initial public offering that could raise about $1 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
 

The company, backed by SoftBank Group Corp. and Tiger Global Management, has also picked Morgan Stanley for the listing, said the people, who asked not to be named as the information is private. 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. A representative for Citi declined to comment, while representatives for Kotak Mahindra, Morgan Stanley and Ola didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

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