Ola Electric Mobility (OEM), the division of home grown ride-hailing major Ola, is all set to raise fresh funds from South Korean auto behemoths Hyundai and Kia, a report in Times of India (TOI) claimed. TOI cited the latest filings with antitrust watchdog Competition Commission of India (CCI).
None of the concerned parties –Ola, Hyundai and Kia – commented on the news report at the time of filing this story.
Barely few months back, Hyundai and Kia invested $300 Mn in Ola’s parent company ANI technologies and that deal is intrinsically linked with the current funding, TOI claimed citing the latest filing. As per the filings, both South Korean auto giants will get to acquire minority stake in OEM after the funding round is completed.
OEM, which is already a unicorn startup, is riding high on Indian government’s massive push towards electric mobility. Counting high profile investors like SoftBank and Tiger Global, Ola’s subsidiary company is certainly the most well-funded startup in the entire electric mobility space. Going by the sheer financial muscle, the startup most surely enjoys decisive edge over all its other competitors.
OEM has an ambitious goal of putting nearly 1 million electric vehicles on indian roads by 2021. However, it is to be seen whether the current slump in India’s auto sector will have any major impact on OEM’s ability to achieve the lofty ambitions.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has blamed Ola and Uber for the current slump in India’s auto sector. Sitharaman claimed that millennials growing affiliation towards hiring ride-hailing cabs like Uber and Ola has led to downfall in the sales of all the auto-majors.
Irrespective how true or amateur this entire argument is, India’s auto sector is most certainly going through an interesting phase. And, of course, Indian government’s push towards electric mobility is playing a big role in this.