Ola eyeing another $100mn to expand operations

Local cab aggregator Ola is looking to raise another $100 million from investors, four months after it raised about $250 million from SoftBank Group, according to regulatory filings sourced from market research firm Tofler.

As per the documents,  Ola's board has approved raising up to $100 million from existing shareholders, primarily to fund its expansion plans. “The board of directors of the company at their meeting held on 16 March 2017 proposed the infusion of additional funds up to $100 million, which is approximately Rs 670,00,07,046 by issuing 4,95,526 Series 1 preference shares of face value of Rs 10, at a price per subscription share equivalent to Rs 13,521 to its existing holders of equity shares on rights basis,” the company said in a regulatory filing.

Ola’s authorised share capital has also been increased from Rs 5,587.10 crore to Rs 5,587.66 crore, according to the documents. The $100 million funding could be a part of the same round in which the company raised $250 million at about $3 billion pre-money valuation. Ola’s post-money valuation will be determined by the exact amount of capital it finally attracts.

The filing said the objective of the issue was "to meet the growth and expansion of business and to strengthen the financial position of the company".

The cab-aggregator, locked in an intense market battle with Uber has been looking to raise fresh capital for quite some time and is said to be in talks with new investors to get at least $300-400 million more. Some reports suggest that if Ola gets new investors, SoftBank will invest more in the company.

Ola has also been aggressively expanding its portfolio of services placing big bets on new technologies like electric vehicles to stay ahead of the competition.

The company has so far raised more than $1.5 billion in funding from more than 20 investors, including Sequoia Capital, Falcon Capital, DST Global, Accel Partners, among others.