OLA MAY RAISE UP TO $200 MN FROM MICROSOFT

NEWDELHI: Ride-hailing company Ola is in advanced talks to raise about $150-200 million (about ₹1,050-1,400 crore) in funding from technology giant Microsoft, according to people familiar with the matter.

The discussions are at an advanced stage and likely to be closed in the next 10-15 days, the people familiar with the development said.

Emails sent to Ola did not elicit any response, while Microsoft declined to comment.

In 2017, Ola and Microsoft had joined hands to build a new connected vehicle platform for car makers globally.

One of the people cited above said the two companies will continue their deep technology partnership in areas like cloud, and will also collaborate on emerging mobility technology, especially connected vehicles.

Ola, which has about 200 million riders on its platform across India, the UK, Australia and New Zealand, had recently announced setting up of a research unit in the Bay Area of the US to focus on new areas like e-vehicles and connected cars.

The ride-hailing company, which is locked in a battle for market leadership with Us-based Uber in India, has raised about $3 billion in funding.

Its investors include Ratan Tata, Softbank, Tencent Holdings, Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors, Sachin Bansal and others.

The company, in September this year, had received ₹35.8 crore in Series J round from ARK Ola Pre IPO Fund. It had allotted 16,885 shares of ₹10 each to the entity at a premium of ₹21,240 apiece.

Bengaluru-based Ola has been working on turning profitable as it plans to launch an IPO in the next few years.