Over 50,000 licenced drivers will now be assured that they can continue to provide mobility services in London. Drivers can initiate their registration on the Ola app.
More opportunity awaits in India, thanks to decent economic growth with a rising middle class that's just discovering the web through smartphones
Over 10 Indian start-ups with total valuations of $84 billion (some are planning fresh fund-raising) are bracing to launch initial public offerings (IPOs) in the next 36 months. While the size of their IPOs is under discussion, estimates are that they would together raise a minimum of over $8-10 billion during the initial listing.
Dahiya's first internet-based venture to sell insurance failed, but he was convinced digital was the future
Ola, which is now present in seven cities in the UK, said its easy-to-use app would transform commuting experiences in these areas providing the community with greater travel choice as well as quicker and easier access to cabs.
Having grown swiftly since the acquisition of Flipkart by Walmart in 2018, it was looking at a valuation of $10 billion. However, factors such as lack of diversification, new e-commerce and data policies, as well as the overall investment environment, have slowed the process.
In India, it is fighting a pitched battle against Ola.
The 24-hour delivery offer applies only to select postal codes and is not available across the country.
Investors spent much of 2016 cleaning house. And a VC tells Ranju Sarkar, "There's still some bad news left in the portfolios (of VC firms). What happens to Ola and Flipkart will drive sentiment in future."
Ma and the other co-founders had finalised the name "Alibaba" after much research on its acceptability.
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.
Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook are both a boon and a bane for angel investors, VCs as well as start-ups. If the Big Tech companies get broken up and their powers to acquire get significantly curbed therefore, the whole ecosystem will need to change, says Prosenjit Datta.
Alibaba in talks to invest up to $700 million in Snapdeal
The development comes close on the heels of Uber planning to invest substantial part of $3.5 bn Saudi money in India.
Both Indian firms have been in talks with investors for nearly a year to raise fresh funds of as much as $ 1 billion, but with little success so far.
The state government says Ola was using its existing cab aggregator licence to promote bike taxi services.
Snapdeal also in talks with China's Alibaba and Taiwan's Foxconn to raise $1 bn.
Snapdeal chief executive officer Kunal Bahl said Piramal's investment was a significant endorsement for the firm and the transformation the company has undergone over the last couple of years.
Sectors which attracted big-ticket investments were real estate, energy, banking and start-ups
Amazon India Country Head Amit Agarwal refers to all talk of mergers as 'noise'. 'All this is a distraction, when the focus should be on the customer,' he says.
As a tech services company, Ola has never been in hardcore manufacturing. And unlike in ride hailing, which is a two-player market (Uber is the only other competitor), in two-wheelers it faces many entrenched players. But most of all, rivals say Ola's targets are out of sync with most, even ambitious, projections.
Venture capital investments in India's start-ups nearly halved to $1.5 billion in fourth-quarter 2015
The company's India focus hasn't changed with the change in CEOs.
Aramco also plans to invest in building India's largest oil refinery on the country's west coast.
'To all the MBAs that burn the candle at both ends, travel half-a-million miles every year, and spend little or no quality time with their families, the rise to riches of Mr Bikhchandani and Mr Banga, should be true inspiration,' notes Sandeep Goyal.
Around 30,000 customers went ahead with the booking despite a technical glitch and 7 crore people signed up for the phone.
Private equity firms invested about USD 3.7 billion across 133 deals during the first quarter of 2018 as compared to USD 7.3 billion by way of 200 transactions a year ago.
Snapdeal is conducting due diligence on ShopClues, a move that may lead to a potential acquisition of the latter, which may bring in a fresh infusion of funds for the new entity.
Snapdeal said on Wednesday it bought online mobile recharge firm Freecharge for an undisclosed amount.
15 per cent of startups in Silicon Valley are founded by Indians.
Japan today imports 500,000 tons of coffee annually. Barely 60 years earlier, it was a market that hardly sold a cup! Ad guru Sandeep Goyal reveals how Nestle won the Coffee versus Tea Battle.
Alibaba founder and executive chairman Jack Ma is this year's biggest financial gainer as the billionaire entrepreneur's fortune has swelled by a whopping $18.5 billion this year to $29.2 billion.
Ratan Tata has invested an undisclosed amount in startup research platform Tracxn.
Even at early stage, start-ups are raising more money faster owing to the rise of a lot of specialised early-stage VCs and emergence of seed-stage programmes.
Ridlr will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of ANI Technologies, which owns Ola brand. Ridlr's team of 64 employees will now become a part of Ola.
The Qatar Investment Authority deal follows Byju's raising money from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which was also the first direct investment by the Canadian pension fund in an Indian start-up. In March, Byju's had raised $540 million at a valuation on $5.4 billion, making it the most-valued ed-tech company in the world.
The 3G, 4G data and Airtel Money services are the next growth engines for the company in Africa.
The move comes at a time when IL&FS Energy has joined hands with SB Energy
The event will aim at drawing foreign investment in startups and push local partnerships.
The new tranche of funding raises Ola's valuation to $5.74 billion from $4.45 billion in October 2017
