Ola raises $400 mn; eyes operations at 200 cities

App-based taxi aggregator Ola today said it has raised USD 400 million (about Rs 2,500 crore) for doubling its operations to 200 cities and increasing its cab base.
The latest round of funding was led by DST Global with participation from GIC, Falcon Edge Capital as well as existing investors SoftBank Group, Tiger Global, Steadview Capital and Accel Partners US.
So far Ola has raised close to USD 800 million.
Market watchers said the latest funding round gives the Mumbai-based firm enough fire power to take on its closest rival Uber, as firms are battling it out to retain drivers through high commissions and soft loan offers as well as keep enough cash in hand to sustain its momentum.

On the expansion plans, Ola Co-founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said: "We are going to invest in business expansion like doubling our city reach from 100 to 200 by year-end. Also we will scale up our engineering team by hiring over 1,000 professionals by September."
The firm's engineering team, at present, has a strength of 500.

Aggarwal said the company will also invest on product development and mobility solutions.
"The investment will allow us to go deeper into smaller cities. We are seeing growth in tier 2 & 3 cities as people there have very limited transportation options," he added.

Ola also plans to invest USD 100 million in its latest acquisition TaxiForSure to expand its base. It had acquired the Bangalore-based firm last month to scale up its reach and size.
There is a large opportunity waiting to be unlocked to transform the ecosystem from within, the firm said.
Driver partners on Ola platform benefit from better structured financing options offered by banks and financial institutions as well as discounts from car manufacturers, it added.
Meanwhile, in partnership with the State Bank of India 'Ola Pragati' offers soft loan under which drivers can avail a daily loan repayment facility and can purchse a by paying lesser down payment.

Ola aims to offer this programme to over 100,000 driver entrepreneurs across India within the next 2 years.
It is also experimenting with instant food delivery with OlaCafe, currently available in beta across four cities.
Asked plans for food delivery service, he said: "There are no plans of expanding in this direction as of now."
When asked about the firm launching a grocery delivery service, Aggarwal declined to comment. According to sources Ola is planning to launch a grocery delivery service in select cities.