Ola appoints Badri Raghavan as Chief Data Scientist

The country’s largest online cab aggregator Ola has put together a data science team which will be headed by Dr. Badri Raghavan, an industry veteran, who earlier worked with FirstFuel Software, a leading energy and utilities analytics firm based out of Boston.

Ankit Bhati, CTO and co-founder at Ola, said the company was moving towards a much larger scale towards building technology based on deep insight into the Indian psyche, and for this Big Data is a must. “With over a million trips on the platform every single day, an enormous amount of data is available for us to utilise intelligently. With a rich vein of expertise in data science and machine learning, Badri fits perfectly into Ola’s vision of building ground-up a technology solution based on a deep understanding of our customers, and build world-class innovative solutions,” Bhati said.

Raghavan’s key responsibilities will include leading a data science team with cutting edge training in Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Decision Analysis, Pattern Recognition and related areas. The team will work across various business units and departments, to gain operational and business efficiencies, ranging from demand and supply prediction, driver behaviour and performance management and location Intelligence, among others.

The statement said as a company that holds a vast database of drivers, customers and every single trip that takes place on its platform, Ola’s business is deeply rooted in data science and in drawing valuable insights to build innovative solutions that resonate with the needs of Indian consumers and driver partners alike.

“The potential to leverage the incredible wealth of unique data Ola has gathered to build better solutions that would facilitate superior customer experience and stimulate growth, is immense. Ola Share is a classic example of leveraging big data to improve matching rates and minimise deviations. With an aim to build more such solutions and add value on existing ones, I am looking forward to building a world-class team as we advance in our mission of building mobility for a billion Indians,” said Raghavan.

Before joining, Raghavan was the chief data scientist and founding CTO of FirstFuel Software, a leading energy and utilities analytics firm based out of Boston. He steered the development of the breakthrough energy analytics applications at FirstFuel, and was also instrumental in establishing the overall technology vision and driving the firm’s growth in significant ways across three rounds of venture funding from leading VCs.

Raghavan has also worked with IBM Research in New York as the Associate Director, Energy and Utility Analytics, where he helped set a framework for IBM’s analytics-driven smart grid applications. Badri has worked in FICO for nearly a decade in leadership roles in analytics, product and operations. He was part of the founding team at FICO Bengaluru, where he conceptualised, built and executed the strategy to develop the Centre for Decision Analytics.

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