Chinese investors commit $50m to India’s Ola

The round values Ola at around $4.3 billion, according to filings with India’s Registrar of Companies cited by various media sources. The investors will have a combined stake in the company of just over 1%. It is not clear if other investors are also participating.

The new capital comes as Ola pursues global expansion. In a separate statement, the company said it plans to start operations in New Zealand soon, initially launching in Auckland, Christchurch, and Wellington. Ola launched in Australia in February, where it now has 50,000 drivers operating in seven major cities, and in Cardiff, Newport and Vale of Glamorgan in South Wales in August.

Founded in 2010, Ola claims to be India’s most popular mobile app for personal transportation, offering taxis, luxury vehicles, auto-rickshaws and shuttle buses through its platform. The company is present in over 110 cities in India and claims to provide up to a billion rides each year.

Several other Chinese investors have backed the company, including Tencent Holdings, which led a $1.1 billion round for Ola last year. Didi Chuxing has also invested in Ola, in addition to its other industry peers Grab and Lyft; the four companies have formed a strategic partnership to leverage each other’s technology, local market knowledge, and business resources, in competition with their common rival Uber.

Sailing was set up by Shanghai International Group in 2012 and manages the first cross-border renminbi-denominated private equity fund, which launched in 2013 with a target of about $1 billion. The fund aims to aid overseas acquisitions by Chinese companies, focusing on the healthcare, technology, and consumer sectors.

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Technology
• Consumer
• Expansion
• India
• TMT
• sailing capital
• One Belt One Road
• Growth capital