Ola raises Rs 1,952 cr from DST Global, Tiger, others

Fund-raising comes less than 6 months after Ola raised $210 mn from Japan's SoftBank, and close on the heels of Ola's acquisition of TaxiForSure for Rs 1,240 cr

Mobile app-based cab and auto-rickshaw aggregator Ola (earlier Ola Cabs) has raised Rs 1,952 crore ($315 million) from a clutch of investors, including Russian venture capitalist Yuri Milner’s DST Global, and existing investors Tiger Global, Steadview Capital and Accel Partners, according to a filing with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).

While sources say Milner holds a personal investment in Ola, this is DST’s second investment in India. In 2014, it had acquired significant stake in e-commerce major Flipkart.

The fund-raising comes less than six months after Ola raised $210 million from Japan’s SoftBank, and close on the heels of Ola’s acquisition of TaxiForSure for Rs 1,240 crore ($200 million) in a cash-and-stock deal that made the combined entity the largest technology-backed cab aggregator in India.

The latest funding was closed last week, with ANI Technologies Private Ltd, the owner of Ola, issuing series-G preference shares to several funds of DST Global and some existing investors.

According to the RoC filing, DST Global led the round of funding, investing about $206 million, while existing investors Tiger Global invested $40.65 million, Steadview Capital 10.5 million and Accel Investors about $5 million. Other investors included ABG Capital, Mauritius Investments and Rahul Mehta.

Existing investors Softbank and Matrix Partners did not participate in the round.

Earlier, media reports had said Ola, founded by Indian Institute of Technology Bombay batchmates Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, was in talks to raise $500 million from a group of investors, including DST Global, at a valuation of $2.5 billion.