India’s Ola raises US$300mil from Hyundai Motor

BANGALORE: India’s Ola is raising US$300mil from Hyundai Motor Group, giving the ride-hailing startup more capital to compete for drivers and customers against Uber Technologies Inc just as the US rival prepares for an initial public offering.

The deal values Ola at about US$6bil, said a person familiar with the matter, asking not to be named because the figures are private. The Bangalore-based company, which had been valued at US$4.3bil according to CB Insights, would continue to raise funds and has term sheets from other investors, the person said.

Last month, Ola announced an investment of more than US$90mil from Sachin Bansal, co-founder of local e-commerce pioneer Flipkart Online Services Pvt Ltd.

Ola, which primarily competes with Uber in India, presents a lower-profile challenge for the ride-hailing leader than American rival Lyft Inc.

India has become increasingly important for Uber’s ability to show investors prospects for international growth after it retreated from China. Ola’s fundraising demonstrates Ola co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal, is willing to wage a pitched, costly battle for market share in the enormous market.

“We’re very excited about our partnership with Hyundai,” Aggarwal said in a statement.

Hyundai last year agreed to invest US$250mil into Singapore’s ride-hailing service Grab and sell a fleet of electric vehicles (EV) to the company.