India's Uber that realized ride-hailing might never make money and pivoted to building electric scooters. Bhavish Aggarwal fought Uber to a standstill in India, then bet the company's future on electric vehicles — building the world's largest e-scooter factory. It's either the most audacious pivot in Indian tech history or the most expensive distraction. The Ola Electric IPO values the EV bet at billions, but the core ride-hailing business is still burning cash. Aggarwal is trying to do what Elon Musk did — build the factory AND the brand — in a market where a scooter costs $1,500.
Founded
2010
HQ
Bangalore, India
Total Raised
$5B+
Founder
Bhavish Aggarwal, Ankit Bhati
Status
Ola Cabs: Private. Ola Electric: Public (NSE: OLAELEC)
Website
www.olacabs.comTHE ORIGIN STORY
Bhavish Aggarwal was an IIT Bombay graduate working at Microsoft Research when a terrible cab ride in Bangalore — the driver took a wrong route and overcharged — inspired him to build a better alternative. In 2010, he and Ankit Bhati launched Ola (originally ANI Technologies) as an online cab booking platform.
India's ride-hailing market was perfect: terrible public transport, millions of available drivers, growing smartphone penetration, and a population of 1.4 billion people. Ola quickly became India's dominant ride-hailing platform, fighting a brutal subsidy war with Uber India.
WHAT THEY ACTUALLY DO
Ride-hailing platform — India's answer to Uber. Connects riders with drivers across cars, auto-rickshaws, and bikes through a mobile app.
Revenue comes from commission on rides (20-25% of fare), Ola Money (digital payments), Ola Fleet Technologies (vehicle leasing to drivers), and Ola Electric (EV subsidiary). Ola expanded beyond ride-hailing into electric vehicles, financial services, and cloud kitchens.
THE PRODUCTS
Ola Cabs (ride-hailing across cars, autos, and bikes), Ola Money (digital wallet and payments), Ola Electric S1 Pro (electric scooter — bestselling EV two-wheeler in India), Ola Electric Futurefactory (world's largest e-scooter factory), and Ola Maps (internally developed mapping platform to replace Google Maps).
HOW THEY GREW
Ola Electric is the big bet. Bhavish Aggarwal launched Ola Electric in 2017 and built the world's largest electric two-wheeler factory in Tamil Nadu.
Ola Electric's e-scooter became the best-selling EV two-wheeler in India. The company went public on the Indian stock exchange in 2024.
The strategy: pivot from a ride-hailing company (low margins, subsidy-dependent) to an EV manufacturer (higher margins, India's massive two-wheeler market).
THE HARD PART
Uber. The global ride-hailing giant entered India in 2013 and threw billions at the market.
The subsidy war — both companies paying drivers and subsidizing rides to gain market share — burned through capital at an insane rate. Ola also expanded too aggressively: launching Ola Foods (cloud kitchens), Ola Dash (quick commerce), and international operations in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand — most of which failed and were shut down.
Profitability has remained elusive in the core ride-hailing business.
MONEY TRAIL
Series A
2011 · Led by Matrix Partners India, Tiger Global
$5M raised
Series F
2015 · Led by SoftBank
$500M raised
Series J
2019 · Led by Hyundai, Kia Motors
$300M raised
Ola Electric IPO
2024 · Led by Indian public market
$734M raised
WHO BACKED THEM
SoftBank Vision Fund, Tiger Global, Tencent, Temasek, Matrix Partners India, and Hyundai Motor Company have backed Ola.
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