An e-scooter company named Ola Electric has raised USD 300 million in its most recent fundraising round, bringing its valuation to USD 6 billion, according to a business daily. The company raised $200 million in January 2022 at a USD 5 billion valuation. It is asserted that the most recent round, which is being led by a well-known sovereign fund company, has elicited a positive response from other investors and that the sale's legal documentation would be ready in a few weeks. The SoftBank Group, the first large investor in the company, opted out of this round. A spokesperson for Ola, however, declined to offer any comments on the fundraiser.

Investors such as Tekne Private Ventures, Alpine Opportunities Fund, and Edelweiss committed USD 200 million to Ola Electric in the previous deal. Over numerous stages, the company has so far raised around USD 900 million in financing. Using the funds from the most recent acquisition, the company will immediately raise its annual production capacity of electric two-wheelers from 0.5 million to 2 million.

Additionally, the funds will help the business construct a battery facility for advanced cell chemistry, for which it is already eligible for benefits under the production-linked incentive (PLI) programme. A plant for electric passenger cars is also under construction and could become a reality by 2024. The company has sketched out a plan to eventually build a 10-million-per-annum two-wheeler factory in addition to growing its cell-making battery capacity from 20 gigawatt-hours (GWH), for which it is qualified for PLI, to 100 GWH to satisfy its captive need.

Since its launch 18 months ago, Ola has generated 1.2 billion dollars in annual sales and is already profitable in terms of Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) for its electric two-wheeler business. It has become into the top supplier of electric scooters in the country as well. In April of this year, 21,560 electric scooters were registered (and sold), accounting for 34% of the market, according to VAHAN figures. In contrast, sales of major rivals Ather, Ampere, Okinawa, Hero Electric, and TVS fell within the same time frame.

The company has ambitious plans; in addition to introducing an electric motorcycle in the second half of this year, it intends to sell 1 million of its e-scooters overall by the end of the year (currently, 300,000 of them are being used on public roads). It is also developing its most affordable electric scooter, which will go on sale in July and cost INR 84,999. It is anticipated that this will greatly boost sales.