AAA SoftBank charges $200m round for Ola Electric

SoftBank charges $200m round for Ola Electric

Ola Electric, the India-based electric vehicle (EV) spinoff of ride hailing service Ola, has raised $200m in a funding round co-led by internet and telecommunications conglomerate SoftBank.

Alternative asset manager Falcon Edge co-led the round, which also featured undisclosed additional investors. The deal valued the EV producer at $3bn, up from a $1bn valuation from two years ago.

Spun off by Ola in April 2019, Ola Electric sells an electric scooter called the S1 which can reach speeds of 90km per hour and run for 121km on a single charge. It will use the funding to speed up the development of its other EV products, which include a motorbike, mass-market scooter and a car.

Bhavish Aggarwal, founder and CEO of Ola, said: “We are proud to lead the EV revolution from India to the world. India has the talent and the capability to build technologies of the future for the industries of the future for the entire world.

“I thank our existing investors and welcome new ones to Ola. Together we will bring mobility to a billion and sustainability to the future.”

Ola Electric had previously received nearly $1m in series B funding from the family trust of Pawan Munjal in March 2020.

Automotive manufacturer Hyundai and its Kia Motors subsidiary supplied an undisclosed amount of funding for the company in September 2019, after SoftBank had invested $250m two months earlier.

Ola Electric had already collected at least $56m in a series A round closed in May that year and backed by Tiger Global Management, Matrix Partners India and Ratan Tata.