[Update] SEBI Clears Ola Electric’s INR 5,500 Cr IPO

Update | June 20, 1:15 PM

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has officially cleared the public offer of Ola Electric Mobility. The markets regulator issued its observation letter to the company on June 10. This is one day prior to when Inc42 learnt that the public market debut of the company has been greenlit by the regulator.

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Original Story |  Jun 11, 5:15 PM

Bhavish Aggarwal-led two-wheeler electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Ola Electric has received the nod from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for its much-awaited initial public offering (IPO), company sources told Inc42.

The company received the approval earlier in the day today and is eyeing a listing on the exchanges within a month, one of the sources said.

Official confirmation from the markets regulator is expected soon. As per the last update from SEBI on June 7, Ola Electric’s DRHP was under process. 

Ola Electric filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) with the markets regulator in December last year. As per the DRHP, the public issue will comprise a fresh issue of INR 5,500 Cr and an offer for sale (OFS) component of up to 9.51 Cr shares. 

Founder and CEO Aggarwal and investors like SoftBank, Temasek, Tiger Global, Alpha Wave, Tekne Capital and Matrix Partners are among those who will sell shares via the OFS. 

The company’s public issue will be the first IPO by any EV maker in India and first by any automaker in the last 20 years. 

Ola Electric plans to use the proceeds from the IPO to set up its Ola Gigafactory project — targeting 100 GWh capacity for battery production at full scale —  to manufacture EVs, batteries and other components. 

Additionally, Ola Electric will deploy a portion of the funds for research and product development, organic growth and general corporate purposes, including paying off some debt raised by Ola Electric.

In the financial year 2022-23 (FY23), Ola Electric’s net loss widened 88% to INR 1,471.6 Cr from INR 783.4 Cr in the previous fiscal year. Sales surged 605% to INR 2,630.9 Cr from INR 373 Cr in FY22. 

Meanwhile, the startup reported sales of INR 1,242.7 Cr in the first three months of FY24. 

Ola Electric continues to lead the Indian two-wheeler EV space with close to 50% market share. 

Earlier this month, a report said that the startup is planning to sack nearly 400-500 employees to cut costs and streamline operations. Meanwhile, Ola Electric has raised a debt of INR 100 Cr ahead of the IPO.