Ola Group leads innovation race, holds over half of unicorns' patents

Ola Group, spanning ride-hailing, electric vehicles, and AI, now holds over 50 per cent of all patents filed by India's 117 unicorns.

India's unicorns collectively hold only 229 patents, with Ola Group owning more than half, according to data from the Indian Patent Advanced Search (IPAS) System.

In a recent post on X (formerly Twitter), Ola Founder Bhavish Aggarwal shared, "Happy that Ola group @OlaElectric @Olacabs and @Krutrim have half of all granted patents for all Indian unicorns put together. Not happy with our number of 650 applied patents though. We will accelerate much much more in coming years!"  Sources close to Ola confirmed that the group has filed over 650 patent applications, with 180 already granted. This includes filings by Ola Electric, Ola Consumer, and Krutrim, with Ola Electric accounting for the lion's share of about 70-80 per cent of the total. 

The report reveals that 101 of India's unicorns have filed zero patents, spotlighting a heavy tilt in the startup ecosystem toward valuation and market capture rather than technology creation.

In this context, Ola Group's IP portfolio stands out as an example of deep-tech commitment. Ola Electric, the EV arm, filed 205 patents in FY23 alone, making it India's top patent filer in the electric vehicle sector. These patents span battery innovation, vehicle software, AI, safety systems, and more.

In FY23 alone, Ola Electric invested Rs 507 crore in R&D, representing 19.3 per cent of its annual revenue, a sharp rise from Rs 175 crore the previous year. The company is set to further ramp up innovation spending, earmarking Rs 1,600 crore for R&D between FY25 and FY27.

As stated in its IPO prospectus, "R&D and technology form the backbone of our business model."  The group's filings also extend globally, with patents granted and pending in the US, UK, Japan, China, and Australia, positioning Ola as a global tech-driven company.