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Ola Acquires Public Transport App to Compete With Uber

4Apr By Sheldan RungasamyNo Comments

ACQUISITION

Ola Acquires Public Transport App to Compete With Uber

Ola, the Indian Ride Hailing company announced that the firm acquired public transport app, Ridlr whose software will be integrated in Ola and bring new facilities to users in helping with their commuting needs. This acquisition consolidates Ola’s efforts in digitalizing the public transport facilities in India and is undoubtedly an additional asset for the Indian ride hailing company to compete with their main competitor Uber as the competition between the two platforms intensifies week in, week out. Ridlr is an app that allows its users to search and book several public transport facilities on their smartphones. The platform’s patented Internet of Things (IoT) facilities allows digitalization of Indian public transport. Launched in 2009 by Ravi Khemani and Brijraj Vaghani, the plat...

SoftBank Encouraging Uber to Merge Operations with Ola

29Mar By Sheldan RungasamyNo Comments

News

SoftBank Encouraging Uber to Merge Operations with Ola

Several news sources are reporting that Japanese giant investor SoftBank Group is putting pressure on Indian ride-hailing company Ola to merge with American rival Uber as part of a consolidation plan in India which represent the fastest growing market for ride hailing. SoftBank is currently the largest investor in both the companies and are reported to have been holding talks for over a year concerning the merge. The wish of Softbank to see the deal go through intensified after Uber decided to leave the ride-hailing market of Southeast Asia after admitting defeat to local competitor Grab last week. Reports suggest that the deal will be completed in the coming two months as both companies wish to have controlling stakes in the deal. This is the main reason why the deal is taking so long ...

Coatue Management to Invest $50-100 Mn in Swiggy

28Mar By Sheldan RungasamyNo Comments

FUNDING

Coatue Management to Invest $50-100 Mn in Swiggy

Coatue Management one of the world’s best performing technology hedge funds, is in discussion to invest $50-100 million in Swiggy, the online food-delivery in partnership with a few additional investors. This will be the second investment in two months for the food delivery app after South African Naspers and Meityan-Dianping, the Chinese e-commerce. This states how rapid the current Indian digital market is evolving, especially in terms of investment. Swiggy possessed a valuation of $700 million when they received their last investment and the Chinese online-to-offline service platform Meituan-Dianping is set to invest in the company again along with Coatue and two unknown investors. Meituan-Dianping is set to invest an additional $40 Mn in Swiggy. Reports cannot confirm whether ...

You Can Now Book An Ola Cab From IRCTC’s Website!

20Mar By Sheldan RungasamyNo Comments

News

You Can Now Book An Ola Cab From IRCTC’s Website!

The IRCTC-Ola collaboration will give customers the chance to book an Ola ride whenever they visit the IRCTC Rail Connect App or the website. The Ola-IRCTC Partnership The railway Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) and Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) announced on Monday they were tying up with Ola, the cab aggregator, in a bid to provide railway travelers the opportunity of booking a taxi before and after their train travel. This initiative comes as the IRCTC wishes to provide connectivity from the moment their train commuters leave their house up until their final destination. The collaboration will be a six months trial destined to give customers access to Ola booking services whenever they use the IRCTC Rail Connect App or the website, according t...

Ola Shutting Down its Bus Unit ‘Shuttle’

7Feb By PriyankaNo Comments

News

Ola Shutting Down its Bus Unit ‘Shuttle’

Indian cab aggregator Ola has announced that it is shutting down its bus unit Ola Shuttle, as a part of a "re-balancing" of its mobility portfolio, reported Economic Times. Ola's Shuttle bus service will now be terminated in cities of Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata,Hyderabad and Chennai. The news is surprising as the SoftBank backed Ola on the other hand has raised massive amount of funding which could have sufficed if it wanted to keep the engine running. Ola is also focusing on global expansion, starting from Australia. Ola had sent notifications to their customers in the above stated cities, informing them that the Ola Shuttle services will no longer be available starting February 3. The drivers were instructed to return their smartphones, GPS Devices and cameras later by the week ...

Ola Now Plans To Expand To Australian Market

30Jan By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

News

Ola Now Plans To Expand To Australian Market

Indian cab aggregator Ola is set to go international with the launch of its operations in Australia in the coming weeks, a move that will further intensify its battle with US-based rival Uber. The SoftBank-backed firm is now onboarding private hire vehicle owners onto its platform in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, Ola said in a statement. Ola plans to launch its services in Australia in early 2018, it added. It will share further details of the commencement of commercial operations -- subject to necessary regulatory approvals -- later. "We are very excited about launching Ola in Australia and see immense potential for the ride-sharing ecosystem which embraces new technology and innovation," Ola co-founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said. He added that the company aims to "create...

Uber rival Didi Chuxing gets $4 bn from SoftBank, others for global expansion

21Dec By reutersNo Comments

FUNDING

Uber rival Didi Chuxing gets $4 bn from SoftBank, others for global expansion

Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing Technology Co has raised $4 billion in a new funding round, the firm said on Thursday, boosting its war chest as it looks to expand overseas and intensify a challenge to Uber Technologies Inc. The fundraising will help fuel the firm’s global expansion plans as well as help it develop its business into areas like artificial intelligence (AI), Didi said. The round values the firm at over $50 billion and pre-existing investor SoftBank Group Corp is a participant, a person familiar with the deal told Reuters. SoftBank did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “With a substantial cash reserve, Didi plans to scale up investments in AI talent and technologies,” Didi said in a statement. The funds would also help the firm “bring more ...

After A Failed Attempt At Ola Cafe, Ola Acquires Foodpanda In A Reply To UberEATS

19Dec By RishabhNo Comments

ACQUISITION

After A Failed Attempt At Ola Cafe, Ola Acquires Foodpanda In A Reply To UberEATS

Indian cab-aggregator unicorn Ola has acquired Foodpand India, run by Germany-based Delivery Hero Group. Run by ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd, Ola will also be investing around $200 million in Foodpanda's Indian business over an undisclosed period of time. "Foodpanda India will benefit from Ola's scale and efficiencies as a platform, also having leveraged learnings from Delivery Hero's global best practices. Ola and Delivery Hero will continue to collaborate on building the online food delivery ecosystem in India," Ola said in a statement announcing the acquisition. After the acquisition goes through, Saurabh Kochhar, current CEO of Foodpanda India will be succeeded by Ola's founding partner Pranay Jivrajka, Kochhar has decided to move on and pursue other opportunities. This acquisition is...

Chinese Ride Sharing Giant DiDi Chuxing Is Coming To North America

8Dec By RishabhNo Comments

USA

Chinese Ride Sharing Giant DiDi Chuxing Is Coming To North America

Beijing, China's ride hailing giant Didi Chuxing is planning to expand its services to expand to Mexico by next year, marking the company's first international expansion move. This also signals a new phase of competition with global ride sharing company Uber, which quit its Chinese business by selling it to Didi in 2016 after lengthy and expensive battle. After Uber, Didi Chuxing is the most valued privately owned firm in the world. Its decision to begin recruiting drivers and offering rides in Mexico will surely be seen as shot across Uber's bow at a time when the company witnessed a series of self-inflicted scandals. Didi right now has no card outside China, but will be launching an app in the Mexico and recruit local drivers. It is unclear which cities Didi will target, althoug...

30Nov By PriyankaNo Comments

FUNDING

SoftBank Group To Acquire More Stakes In Flipkart, Valuing It At $10B

Japanese multinational telecommunications corporation SoftBank Group has offered to buy shares from investors and former and existing employees of Indian e-commerce website Flipkart, valuing it around $9-10 billion. SoftBank has offered to buy Flipkart shares at $85-89 per share, Mint reported. The price range values Flipkart slightly lower than the pre-money valuation it clinched in two funding rounds of $1.4 billion each, one from SoftBank in August and the other from eBay Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Tencent Holdings Ltd in April. SoftBank's move is a part of its August commitment to pick up additional stakes in the e-commerce giant. Out of the total $2.5 billion investment commitment, SoftBank will use around $1.2-1.4 billion in buying out shares of other investors and employees....

21Nov By AdityaNo Comments

FUNDING

Zoomcar To Raise $50M Funding From Existing And New Investors

Self-drive car rental service Zoomcar India Pvt Ltd is in talks to raise a funding of $50 million from new and existing investors, Mint reported. Citing two people aware of the development, the financial daily reported that Zoomcar's funding talks have progressed with M&M (Mahindra & Mahindra) the Indian multinational car manufacturing corporation headquartered in Mumbai. “They are in advanced talks with Mahindra and Mahindra, while there is interest from two other new investors, too,” the first person told the source. In its partnership with M&M, Zoomcar will be launching electric cars in Agra, Dehradun and Chandigarh.The company is currently running a pilot in Mysore, according to a third person familiar with the matter. The information has not yet been verified, as t...

Ola Ties Up With Microsoft For Connected Car Platform

8Nov By reutersNo Comments

FUNDING

Ola Ties Up With Microsoft For Connected Car Platform

Indian ride-hailing firm Ola said it has tied up with Microsoft to build a connected-car platform and will use the U.S tech giant’s Azure cloud-computing service to power its in-car entertainment offering. Microsoft is separately also in talks over a potential investment in Ola, a source told Reuters, declining to be named as the discussions are private. The new connected-vehicle platform, for cars that have internet access, will have features to aid navigation and to flag when vehicle maintenance is required, Ola said in a statement on Tuesday. “Both companies will collaborate to take this platform to car manufacturers globally to integrate with vehicle systems,” Ola said, making the announcement during a visit to India by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Ola, which has been locked in...