Ola Electric Mobility raises ₹400 cr in first funding round

Ola Electric Mobility Pvt Ltd, a company backed by taxi-hailing app Ola, has raised ₹400 crore from existing investors such as Tiger Global and Matrix India among others.

This is the company’s first funding round.

Established as Ola’s electric mobility pilot programme in Nagpur, the idea is to bring one million Electric Vehicles (EV) on Indian roads by 2022.

Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-founder and 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.”

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 focusing on the commercial electric vehicle segment.

The company has already partnered with several OEMs and battery manufacturers, and it intends to work closely with the automotive industry to create seamless solutions for electric vehicle operations.

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 travelled, we can jump start the electric vehicle revolution.”