ADVERTISEMENT

Ratan Tata Bets On Ola’s Electric Vehicle Push

Ratan Tata is also an early investor in Ola’s parent ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd.



Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, speaks during a session advising Singapore startups in Singapore (Photographer: Nicky Loh/Bloomberg)
Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, speaks during a session advising Singapore startups in Singapore (Photographer: Nicky Loh/Bloomberg)

Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons, has invested an undisclosed amount in Ola Electric Mobility, the electric vehicle business of the homegrown ride-hailing firm.

Tata, who is also an early investor in Ola’s parent ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd., joined the Rs 400-crore growth funding round of Ola Electric Mobility after the cab aggregator raised funds from Tiger Global and Matrix India in March.

With Tata’s investment, the overall amount in the round is set to cross Rs 400 crore, one person privy to the development told BloombergQuint requesting anonymity.

Ola, which refused to share the details on the amount invested by Tata, said the investment in Ola Electric will bring Tata’s deep experience and mentorship to the company’s ambitions to make electric mobility viable at scale.

“Tata has been an inspiration and a mentor to me personally in shaping Ola’s journey over the years. I’m very excited to welcome him on board Ola Electric as an investor and a mentor in our mission of building sustainable mobility for everyone on our planet,” Bhavish Aggarwal, co-founder and chief executive officer at Ola, said.

Ola Electric is currently running several pilots involving charging solutions, battery-swapping stations, and deploying vehicles across two, three and four-wheeler segments.

“The electric vehicle ecosystem is evolving dramatically every day, and I believe Ola Electric will play a key role in its growth and development,” Tata said in a statement.