Ratan Tata has invested an undisclosed amount in taxi hailing app company Ola.
While the company has not given any details on how much stake the Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus has picked up in the Bengaluru-based start-up, it is learnt from sources that his investments in most of the consumer internet start-ups have been in the ₹6-7 crore range.
Tata has so far made investments in eight companies — Snapdeal, Paytm, Bluestone, UrbanLadder, Xiaomi, Kaaryah, Cardekho and Altareos. On getting Tata on board, Ola’s founder Bhavish Agarwal said, “It is our honour to have Tata as an investor. This is a huge endorsement from one of the most respected business leaders of our times and reflects Ola’s commitment towards the future of mobility in India. We look forward to learning from Tata’s experience that will help us build a world class organisation from India.”
Eyeing more funds Ola, founded in January 2011 by two IIT-Bombay alumni Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, has so far raised up to $800 million in seven rounds from 16 investors, including SoftBank, Tiger Global and Sequoia. It is now planning to raise $800 million from new and existing investors thus putting its valuation at $10 billion, according to sources.