Ola has secured a whopping $1.1 billion in fresh round of funding from China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd and existing investor Japan’s SoftBank. The homegrown company will use the funding to increase its numbers of drivers and expand presence to more cities.
Currently, Ola operates in 110 Indian cities while Uber is present in about 30 cities. In addition to the $1.1 billion of capital, Ola said it is looking to raise another $1 billion taking the overall size of the present round to $2 billion. The company also said it will make strategic investments in supply, technology and innovation.
Bhavish Aggarwal, co-founder and CEO of Ola, said in a press statement,
The transportation and mobility industries are seeing huge changes globally. Our ambition is to build a globally competitive and futuristic transportation system in India that will support and accelerate a nation on the move.
Ola is fighting Uber in a highly competitive India market. The latest round of funding will help the company take on rival Uber which is having a stressful year with series of controversies.