Ola-backed Ola Electric Mobility Pvt. Ltd. has reportedly raised Rs. 400 crores as part of its first round of investment led by Tiger Global, Matrix India, and other early investors of Ola. This fundraising comes as a part of Ola’s attempt to venture into the market of electric mobility.
Launched in 2018 to enable the mobility program, Ola was piloted in Nagpur. Ola Electric Mobility has expanded the project to include various other similar piloting programs to deploy electric two and three-wheelers in different parts of the country, along with charging solutions like battery swapping stations. These come as a part of the ‘Mission: Electric’ project announced by Ola in 2018, which aims to usher in 1 million electric vehicles in India by 2022.
Ola Executives Anand Shah and Ankit Jain led Ola Electric Mobility has been given an independent charter that allows them to develop platforms and infrastructure to realize the idea of electric mobility in India. Apart from the various pilot initiatives, the company is building on the evolving market dynamics to effectively deploy charging and battery swapping networks across the country that shall focus primarily on the segment of a commercial electric vehicles.
To achieve this end and ensure seamless solutions for commercial electric vehicle operations, Ola is partnering with various OEMs and battery manufacturers and keeping in close contact with the automotive industry as a whole.
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. I’m excited to partner with Lee and Avnish again, and look forward to recreating a very successful partnership and a transformative business! – Bhavish Aggarwal, Ola’s Co-founder & CEO
We are excited to invest in Ola Electric Mobility, which we believe is the early front-runner in this space and well-positioned to build the ecosystem for electric mobility. As Ola’s first institutional investors, we are excited to begin this new journey with Ola Electric and partner in creating yet another impactful mobility business – Lee Fixel,
Avnish Bajaj, Founder, and MD, Matrix India, said, “We couldn’t be more excited in repeating our successful early partnership with Ola, with our investment in Ola Electric Mobility. Ola’s vision about the role of electric mobility, especially in India for sustainable development, and the approach to making it work at scale is unique. We are privileged to be a partner on this journey!”
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 traveled, we can jumpstart the electric vehicle revolution.”
Ola’s project echoes the policies of the Central and State Governments of India supporting the promotion of commercial electric vehicles to achieve the concept of “clean kilometers traveled,” and the ride-sharing giant intends to provide the country with the infrastructure it needs to enable it at scale.
