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Ola Electric raises Rs. 400 cr for its Electric Mobility business
● Electric Mobility ambitions become more concrete with fresh funding for Ola Electric Mobility Pvt Ltd led by two of Ola’s earliest backers, Tiger Global and Matrix India
● The new company will be led by Anand Shah, a former senior executive from the auto industry, and Ankit Jain who headed Ola’s connected vehicle platform
Kolkata, March 1, 2019: Ola Electric Mobility Pvt Ltd., a company backed by Ola, India’s leading mobility platform and one of the world’s largest ride-hailing platforms, today announced that it has raised a sum of Rs. 400cr led by several of Ola’s early investors, Tiger Global and Matrix India and others,as part of its first round of investment.
The company was initially established to enable Ola’s electric mobility pilot program in Nagpur. In 2018, Ola subsequently announced ‘Mission: Electric’ to bring 1 million Electric Vehicles on Indian roads by 2022. Ola Electric is currently running several pilots to deploy electric vehicles and charging solutions, including battery swapping stations, electric 2-wheeler and 3-wheeler services amongst others.
The new business, led by Ola executives Anand Shah and Ankit Jain, has an independent charter to develop platforms and infrastructure to make electric mobility, a reality at scale. Building on various pilot initiatives and evolving market dynamics, the company is primarily focused on deploying charging and battery swapping networks focused on the commercial electric vehicle segment. Ola Electric has already partnered with several OEMs and battery manufacturers, and intends to work closely with the automotive industry to create seamless solutions for electric vehicle operations.
Echoing strong policy positions to support electric vehicles used for commercial activities, both by the Government of India and various state governments across the country, Ola Electric aims to provide the enabling infrastructure to enable “clean kilometers traveled” at scale.
Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-founder & CEO, Ola said, “At Ola Electric, our mission is to enable sustainable mobility for everyone. India can leapfrog problems of pollution and energy security by moving to electric mobility, create millions of new jobs and economic opportunity, and lead the world.” He added, “I’m excited to partner with Lee and Avnish again, and look forward to recreating a very successful partnership and a transformative business!”
Lee Fixel, Partner, Tiger Global Management said, “We are excited to invest in Ola Electric Mobility, which we believe is the early front-runner in this space and well-positioned to build the ecosystem for electric mobility. As Ola’s first institutional investors, we are excited to begin this new journey with Ola Electric and partner in creating yet another impactful mobility business.”
Avnish Bajaj, Founder and MD, Matrix India said, “We couldn’t be more excited in repeating our successful early partnership with Ola, with our investment in Ola Electric Mobility. Ola’s vision about the role of electric mobility, especially in India for sustainable development, and the approach to making it work at scale is unique. We are privileged to be a partner on this journey!”
Anand Shah, Head of Ola Electric Mobility said, “The first problem to solve in electric mobility is charging: users need a dependable, convenient, and affordable replacement for the petrol pump. By making electric easy for commercial vehicles that deliver a disproportionate share of kilometers traveled, we can jumpstart the electric vehicle revolution.”
