India's leading ride-hailing platform Ola is reportedly preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) aiming to raise approximately Rs. 4000 crores at a targeted valuation of Rs. 40,000 crores. According to sources close to the development, Ola intends to submit IPO approval papers to the market regulator SEBI within the next three months.
Founded by serial entrepreneur Bhavish Aggarwal, Ola has revolutionised urban mobility across India through its taxi aggregator services. Backed by marquee investors like Softbank and Tiger Global, the firm also owns the rapidly-growing electric vehicle manufacturer Ola Electric.
As part of streamlining operations to achieve profitability, Ola had recently closed down its international businesses while implementing measures to reduce costs. These strategic steps seem to have significantly lowered losses for the current fiscal year.
This upcoming IPO attempts to list Ola publicly for the second time, with an earlier 2021 plan of raising up to Rs. 8300 crores deferred due to valuation uncertainties. While investors like Vanguard had downgraded their internal valuation of Ola last quarter, the latest funding round valued the company considerably higher at over Rs. 58,000 crores.
It is believed Ola aims to capitalise on resurgent investor interest while highlighting improved unit economics from continued business focus. Global advisors like Goldman Sachs and domestic investment banks Kotak and Axis are expected to be roped in to manage the share sale process scheduled within the next month.
