Bengaluru-headquartered electric two-wheeler manufacturer Ather Energy is all set to file its draft red herring prospectus within the second week of September to the Securities Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for its maiden initial public offering (IPO), in which it is expected to raise over $450 million. On Tuesday, the fourth-largest electric two-wheeler maker in the country by volume raised Rs 600 crore from its existing investor, the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), catapulting itself into a unicorn with a valuation of $1.3 billion.
Once the user selects a service, they will be directed to the Uber or Ola app to request the ride with one tap.
The development comes amid Japan's SoftBank booking an investment loss of 39.28 billion yen (USD 350 million) on its investments in India, including those in Ola and e-commerce company Snapdeal.
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An industry source said the funding was part of an overall $500 million the company is planning to raise, which will value Ola at around $5 billion.
Uber and Ola continued to operate in New Delhi while their licence applications were pending approval.
Growing the number of electric vehicles on Ola's platform is part of the terms SoftBank has put forth for the funding
Unprecedented bribery charges, farewells, separation, failed union, monumental mergers and record-breaking IPOs, along with a healthy dose of online happenings in the form of spat and lessons in customer care, corporate India saw it all in 2024.
Currently the average expected time of arrival for Ola vehicles is five minutes.
Maruti Suzuki said there are many reasons for this downturn in the auto market such as liquidity crunch, increased prices of products due to regulatory issues, higher taxes and rise in insurance rates.
About 1,000 such cabs have been registered on the company's platform so far
Delhi-based electric vehicle (EV) ride-hailing firm Evera Cabs, which grabbed headlines after acquiring 500 cars from the now-defunct cab service BluSmart, is stepping up its presence in the EV cab segment. The company is aiming for revenue of Rs 100 crore in the ongoing financial year (2025-26), up from Rs 18 crore in 2024-25.
The new Ola app will allow fleet owners to track their cars in real-time, view the performance of their drivers, and even their daily earnings
The entry of SoftBank-backed Ola into the electric scooter (e-scooter) segment is set to power up the overall market and perhaps fast-track the adoption of battery-operated vehicles. But for manufacturers of internal combustion engine (ICE)-powered two-wheelers, such as Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, and TVS Motor, it will be a double whammy. Not only will they have to contend with the aggressive pricing of Ola's scooter and incur a loss at each unit of the e-scooter sold, the volumes of their regular (ICE) models, too, could feel the squeeze, observed analysts. Ola is expected to price its e-scooter in the range of Rs 85,000-1.1 lakh.
While the cab aggregators offer incentives as they battle each other for more customers, drivers complain that their earnings have halved in the last six months. Alnoor Peermohamed reports.
US-based ride hailing firm accuses rival of making false bookings on its platform, drags it to Delhi High Court.
The Bengaluru-based firm competes with US rival Uber whose lukewarm IPO last year has contributed to the lag in valuation trend among the unicorns across the Indian start-up ecosystem.
According to company executives, the situation might worsen in the coming days.
Ola wants to be India's answer to Grab, which is into everything, starting from cab service and logistics to bike taxis and food and grocery delivery.
There are times when a customer books a cab and is charged for the ride, but the driver doesn't show up. It is one of the many hacks that cab drivers use.
Ola did not disclose financial details of the investment.
New norms issued as per the Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines 2020 have mandated a cap on surge price, preventing aggregators from charging more than 1.5 times of the base fare.
Cab aggregator Ola is laying off 1,400 staff from rides, financial services and food business as revenues declined by 95 per cent in the last two months due to coronavirus pandemic, a note by CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said. In an email to employees, Aggarwal made it clear that the prognosis ahead for the business is "very unclear and uncertain" and the impact of this crisis is "definitely going to be long-drawn for us".
Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra has once again found himself at the center of a controversy, this time for his comments about Maharashtra's Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Kamra has been a controversial figure for years, with his comedy often targeting politicians and other public figures. This latest incident has led to a backlash from Shinde's supporters, who have vandalized the venue of Kamra's show. Kamra has a history of making controversial remarks, including heckling a TV anchor on a flight and making comments about the judiciary.
The development comes close on the heels of Uber planning to invest substantial part of $3.5 bn Saudi money in India.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said the government will arrange identity cards and registration on the e-Shram portal to assist 1 crore gig workers. Presenting the Union Budget 2025-26, the finance minister also said a scheme for the socio-economic upliftment of urban workers will be implemented.
'We handle close to 3 million rides daily, making us one of the largest players in this segment'
The whole point about this is not who eventually wins or loses but how, in just a few years, technology has so changed our lives, says Subir Roy.
Kunal Shah has funded over 266 startups including Razorpay, Snapdeal, Zetwork, BlueSmart, Unacademy, Bliss Club, and Spinny, amongst others.
Around half the value of the mark-downs is due to the Japanese currency's appreciation against other currencies.
'80% of start ups fail because they don't have a support system to help them in the very early phase.' 'It's not just an idea that takes an entrepreneur through the initial three years of journey.' 'What plays a definitive role in making a start-up successful is idea+team+capital+mentors+access to a larger ecosystem.'
Do you think the government should interfere in the pricing policy of Ola and Uber? Tell us.
Uber started its business three years ago in India and is now operating in over 20 cities with thousands of cab drivers.
Protesters on Twitter have begun asking people to boycott Ola's service, as mark of disagreement with the company's views
IMAGES from the Premier League matches played on Tuesday.
The firm is fighting a court battle over new rules that mandate licensing & cap fares that remove surge pricing.
Lithium-ion cells, primarily imported from China, are likely to become cheaper following punitive tariffs imposed by the US on Chinese battery cells.
The news of markdowns in the value of Ola and Snapdeal comes at a time when both companies are in talks with investors to raise fresh funds to take on deep-pocketed competition.
Both are focused on the overall transportation business, in which taxi services are only a part; the extended ambit includes autos, motorbikes, cycles, electric vehicles, water transport as well as food delivery services, says Surajeet Das Gupta.
The past few weeks have been rough for both Ola and Uber companies, dodging fire from almost all corners.
The 86-year-old Congress leader had been suffering from various ailments, sources in Medanta Medicity said.
