Ola Receives $1.1 Billion from Tencent, Others

India’s cab-hailing giant Ola, on Wednesday, 11 October, said it has raised $1.1 billion in a funding round led by Tencent Holdings Ltd.

Ola’s existing investor SoftBank, in addition to other new US-based financial investors, also participated, it said in a statement. The company is also in advanced talks with other investors to close an additional $1 billion as part of the current financing round.

Bloomberg had reported earlier this month that Ola is talks with Tencent and other investor to raise $2 billion.

Ola, which operates in 110 cities across India, competes with Uber in one of the world’s most attractive ride-hailing markets and the current investment will give it fire power to take on the San Francisco-based company.

With its latest round of funding, Ola said it will invest in supply, technology, and cutting-edge innovations to build for the country’s transportation needs.

Also Read: Ola Driver Misbehaves with Hyderabad Woman, Gets Arrested

“The company will make significant technology investments into artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities,” the Ola statement added.

The transportation and mobility industries are seeing huge changes globally, Bhavish Aggarwal, co-founder and chief executive officer of Ola, said.

Our ambition is to build a globally competitive and futuristic transportation system in India that will support and accelerate a nation on the move.

Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-Founder And CEO, Ola

The latest fundraise is the second-largest by an Indian startup, after Flipkart Online Services Pvt, the country’s largest online retailer.

(This article was originally published in BloombergQuint.)

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