India’s electric mobility industry is abuzz with excitement as Ola Electric, a Bengaluru-based startup, has filed draft papers with the country’s market regulator seeking an initial public offering of $661.8 million. This move comes after the electric mobility giant raised $384 million in debt funding from Temasek and State Bank of India in October. According to TechCrunch, the startup was valued at $5.4 billion during the October financing round, having raised almost $1 billion in funding over the years.
The prospectus for the IPO reveals that Ola Electric intends to sell 95.2 million shares, including some from its founder, Bhavish Aggarwal (pictured above), as well as investors such as Alpha Wave Ventures, Tiger Global, Matrix Partners, and SoftBank. The book for the IPO is being managed by Kotak, Citi, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Axis, ICICI, SBI, and BOB Capital, as stated in the prospectus.
Ola Electric has been a major player in the electric scooter market, capturing over 35% market share after launching various lower-priced variants of its flagship model, S1 electric scooter, and introducing an upgraded version this year. This IPO marks the first from a two-wheeler maker in India in over 15 years.
Founded by Bhavish Aggarwal in 2019, Ola Electric was born out of the ride-hailing giant Ola. The two companies still share several resources, and some of Ola’s investors had requested Aggarwal to create a holding company for both firms and allocate them shares in the parent company.
According to the draft prospectus, Ola Electric incurred a loss of $176 million in the fiscal year 2023. The report also mentioned various risk factors, including the possibility of the government discontinuing incentives for local electric vehicle manufacturers and potential changes in key managerial positions. Ola Electric stated, “Our employee attrition rate was 42.06% and 47.48% in the seven-month period ended October 31, 2023 (on an annualized basis) and Fiscal 2023, respectively.”
“We are highly dependent on the services and reputation of Bhavish Aggarwal, our Founder, Chairman and Managing Director, who has significant influence on our business plan. He is also the Chairman and Managing Director of ANI Technologies Private Limited and has recently founded a new startup, Krutrim SI Designs Private Limited. His involvement with ANI Technologies Private Limited and Krutrim SI Designs Private Limited may detract from the time that he is able to dedicate to our Company,” the prospectus added.
More information will follow regarding the IPO, and the excitement surrounding Ola Electric’s venture into the stock market continues to build.
[…] initial public offering (IPO). The 13-year-old company recently filed a draft prospectus with the market regulator, making it the latest Indian startup to explore the public […]