After Ola Electric, Bhavish Aggarwal Plans $500 Mn IPO For Ola Cabs

After deferring its initial public offering (IPO) plans in 2021, ride-hailing major Ola Cabs has restarted the preparations for the public offering. The rival of Uber is planning to raise $500 Mn via the IPO at a valuation of about $5 Bn.

As per a Reuters report, Ola Cabs plans to file draft IPO papers for approval with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) within three months.

Ola Cabs’ IPO preparations started right after Bhavish Aggarwal’s electric vehicle (EV) startup, Ola Electric, filed its DRHP in December last year. The EV manufacturer is planning to make a market debut later this year.

Ola Cabs is in talks with investment banks, including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Citi, Kotak and Axis for the IPO, the news agency reported citing sources. It reportedly plans to appoint IPO advisers within a month.

Ola Cabs declined to comment on the matter.

Earlier in 2021, Ola was planning to raise up to $1 Bn through its IPO. The company was also in talks with investment banks to finalise the IPO, which was later deferred. 

It is pertinent to note that after the new-age tech IPO boom of 2021, a bloodbath in the equities market forced multiple startups to defer or cancel their IPO plans in 2022. While IPOs started picking pace again in the later half of 2023, this year is expected to witness a 2021-like phenomenon again, with the likes of OYO, Swiggy, Ola Electric, and MobiKwik expected to go public. 

Ola Cabs’ parent ANI Technologies last raised around $20 Mn from Axis Growth and Arrow Capital as part of its Series J round in August 2022 at a valuation of around $6.7 Bn.

Recently, Ola Cabs exited a few international markets, including the UK, New Zealand, and Australia, citing its growing India focus and further expansion in the country.

Ola Cabs recently also claimed that its India mobility business broke even with ‘segment-adjusted’ EBITDA of about INR 250 Cr in FY23 against an EBITDA loss of INR 66 Cr in the previous year. The revenue of its India mobility arm jumped 58% year-on-year to INR 2,135 Cr in FY23, the company said.

Ola Cabs is backed by the likes of SoftBank, Vanguard, Warburg Pincus, Temasek and Tiger Global Management. Recently, Vanguard marked down the valuation of its investment in Ola by 29% to $1.88 Bn.