Cab booking startup Ola has raised $400 million in series E round of funding from group of investors led by DST Global. Other participants were GIC, Falcon Edge Capital and existing investors SoftBank Group, Tiger Global, Steadview Capital and Accel Partners US. This new funding values the company at $2.5 billion.
With this new fresh funding, Ola aims to expand its service to 200 more cities by the end of the year. Ola will spend $100 million in expansion of Taxiforesure which it acquired few months back for $200 million.
“With increasing smartphone penetration and immense growth in smaller cities and towns, we will be able to drive the benefits of this on-demand platform deeper into the lives of our customers and partners,” said Bhavish Aggarwal, cofounder & CEO, Ola.
Ola is the biggest rival of Uber in India. Back in January, Ola confirmed that it is doing 200,000 rides every day. Company also claimed to see 40% revenue growth month-on-month.
Few days back, Ola also started a food delivery service Ola Cafe to move beyond taxi. This service covers only few specific locations of 4 cities. If it gets good response, it will surely be expanded.
