Temasek, Warburg Pincus to pump US$500m into India's Ola ahead of IPO

[BENGALURU] Indian ride-hailing firm Ola, backed by Japan's SoftBank Group Corp, said on Friday private equity firms Temasek and Warburg Pincus are investing US$500 million in the startup ahead of its planned initial public offering (IPO).

Ola did not give details on its IPO plans, but said that it continues to scale up its business across various categories and geographies.

"Over the last 12 months we have made our ride hailing business more robust, resilient and efficient. With strong recovery post lockdown and a shift in consumer preference away from public transportation," chairman and group chief executive Bhavish Aggarwal said in a statement.

Ola was hit hard last year when pandemic-related lockdowns forced people to stay at home, forcing it to cut about 35 per cent of its workforce and halting 95 per cent of its business.

The company's latest round of funding comes at a time when prominent Indian startups are hitting the public market through IPOs to cash in on a flush of liquidity by foreign funds and the country's new age retail investors, with 22 companies debuting so far in 2021.

Indian food delivery company Zomato said on Thursday it would price its 93.75 billion-rupee (S$1.7 billion) IPO in the range of 72 to 76 rupees per share.

One97 Communications, the parent of Indian payments firm Paytm, will file a draft prospectus as early as July 12 for a domestic market debut that seeks to raise US$2.3 billion.

Reuters had reported in 2019 that Ola was aiming to begin the process of IPO by March 2021.

REUTERS