In a development that will significantly boost Ola Cabs coffers in its fight against rival Uber, the Indian ride-hailing startup is said to have secured $2 billion (over Rs 13,100 crore) in funding from a group including SoftBank Group Corp. and Tencent Holdings Ltd., a media report cited a person familiar with the matter.
According to a report in Bloomberg, other investors in Ola’s latest financing includes a venture capital fund jointly run by Indian industrialist Ratan Tata and the University of California’s investment arm, as well as several U.S. institutional investors.
Ola’s previous investors include Tiger Global Management, DST Global, Accel and Sequoia Capital.
The development marks the second-largest single round funding in an Indian startup. The biggest funding, also by SoftBank and Tencent, was received by Flipkart Online Services, India’s largest e-commerce platform which is competing against American rival Amazon India. SoftBank is also said to be considering investment in Uber.
The funding will be a huge boost for Ola’s plans to take on rival Uber in India. Though Ola leads with the maximum space in the $10 billion market share, Uber has been upping the ante with attractive promotions and driver incentives targeted at Ola’s stronghold markets.
Uber, the world’s most valuable startup, has set its sight on the growing Indian market after ceding ground to Didi in China.
