Ride-hailing company Ola has raised $50 million from new investors Hong Kong-based Sailing Capital and China-Eurasia Economic Cooperation Fund (CEECF). The funding is expected to help Ola intensify its battle with U.S. rival Uber, that is rapidly gaining share in the Indian market.
In an “extra-ordinary general meeting” held on August 31, 2018, Ola raised this amount through the issuance of “2,50,000 fully and compulsorily convertible preference shares,” according to the regulatory documents filed by Ola, which were sourced from business intelligence platform Paper.vc. Sailing Capital. CEECF will hold more than 1% in Ola, according to the documents.
The latest funding comes at a time when Ola is rapidly expanding its operations in India and overseas markets like Australia and the U.K. Ola is also building its online food delivery business and competing with Uber Eats and Swiggy. Last December Ola announced a deal to buy mobile food delivery marketplace Foodpanda's India business from Germany-based Delivery Hero Group. Ola had said that it will invest $200 million in Foodpanda India.
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Last year in October, Ola raised $1.1 billion in a funding round led by Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings Limited. Ola’s existing investor SoftBank, in addition to other new US-based financial investors, had also participated in that round.