Catamaran Looking To Participate In Ola Electric’s $300 Mn Funding Round

Bhavish Aggarwal-led electric scooter maker Ola Electric is reportedly close to finalising a round of funding after months of negotiations.

Per three sources cited by the ET, Temasek, Singapore’s state-owned private equity (PE) giant and an existing investor in Ola Cabs and Ola Electric, has committed to investing approximately $100 Mn in the company.

Further, Aggarwal is reportedly talking with Catamaran Ventures, the investment firm founded by Infosys cofounder NR Narayana Murthy. While the amount of money Catamaran will invest in Ola Electric is uncertain, media reports and industry speculation point to a number between $100 Mn and $150 Mn.

The electric scooter maker’s largest institutional stakeholder, SoftBank, might sit out the upcoming funding round. While speculations were rife earlier about Middle Eastern funds or global PE players participating in the funding round, that is less likely now.

Ola Electric aims to raise $300 Mn in the ongoing funding round, which leaves about $50 Mn in the pipeline for another investor to chip in.

In a recent Bloomberg interview, Catamaran chairman MD Ranganath said that the VC firm would prioritise the manufacturing sector for its investment targets. Catamaran would also concentrate on renewable energy, precision engineering and deeptech for potential investments.

Ola Electric, therefore, fits the bill. Not only it manufactures electric scooters, but the unicorn also has plans to manufacture battery cells, having invested heavily in cell development in recent months.

To recap, Ola Electric was said to have secured $300 Mn in funding from undisclosed investors. The present reports indicate that the funding round is still in progress, with the likes of Temasek and Catamaran set to lead the mega funding round.

Media reports from late May noted that the electric scooter maker planned to deploy the incoming funding to boost its manufacturing capacity to 2 Mn scooters a year, up 4X from the 0.5 Mn at present.

Ola Electric’s last funding round came around 18 months ago when it raised $200 Mn at a valuation of $5 Bn in January 2022. Sources cited by the ET suggest that the company’s valuation in the upcoming funding round could range between $5 Bn and $6 Bn, corroborating media reports from May this year.

The startup remained the dominant EV two-wheeler player in the Indian market, as it saw a record 28,438 registration in May 2023, per data available on the Vahan portal on June 1, a rise of over 29% from 21,991 units in April. 

In a statement, Ola Electric said it sold 35,000 vehicles in May.

The Bhavish Aggarwal-led startup, with several other industry players, was being probed by the government for allegedly billing their escooter chargers and proprietary software separately as accessories to claim FAME-II subsidy. Ola Electric was reportedly to refund INR 130 Cr to 1 Lakh Ola S1 Pro customers.