Ola raising $100M from RNT Capital, Falcon Edge Capital: Report

Uber rival and India’s home grown cab hailing service, Ola, is raising $100 million (INR 6.5 billion) from RNT Capital Advisers (RNT) and Falcon Edge Capital (Falcon), according to a report by Economic Times. RNT, a venture fund of Tata Sons, is expected to pitch in $60 million. The report said that Ola was also in talks with other investors to raise another $200 million. The Indian cab aggregator, had received funding of $350 million from Softbank and two other investors. Till date, the Bhavish Aggarwal-led company has raised a total of $1.56 billion in nine rounds from 20 investors like investors like Softbank Capital, Tiger Global Management, DST Global, Accel Partners, Steadview Capital, Vanguard, Baillie Gifford and Sequoia Capital. AI and analytics startup Zirra, puts Ola’s valuation at around $3.7 billion to $3.8 billion. Prior to the $350 million funding in February, Japan’s Softbank had announced that it recorded a $350 million loss on its investments in two Indian companies — ANI Technologies, which operates Ola, and Jasper Infotech, which owns and operates online marketplace Snapdeal. According to the Economic Times report, industry estimates place the market share for the ride-hailing company at around 65% with Uber holding the second slot in the taxi aggregation business.