Ola Electric, an electric two-wheeler company, is planning to raise around $300 million for its expansion plans and to meet other corporate needs, PTI reported. The fresh round of fundraising comes amid expectations that Ola Electric would break even soon and achieve profitability.
The fundraising round is expected to value the company at $6.5-7 billion, higher than its current valuation of $5 billion, The Economic Times reported.
Ola Electric is currently working with an advisor and has reached out to sovereign wealth funds like the Qatar Investment Authority and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, as well as climate-focused or energy transition funds such as Blackrock and Blackstone. The fundraising will be managed by investment bank Goldman Sachs, and the funds would be raised from existing and marquee global investors and sovereign funds, PTI report added.
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Ola Electric has been the market leader with more than 20 per cent market share in electric two-wheelers for the last five months, according to Vahan data, despite incidents of safety such as fires and front fork failures. The company has raised around $866 million in eight rounds of funding to date. The electric two-wheeler industry volume increased to 65,798 units in February from 35,074 a year ago, according to data from the RTO portal, taking total sales volume to 683,000 so far in the current fiscal year. In the same period, Ola Electric retailed 142,000 units for a market share of 20.88 per cent.
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The company has been building on its plan to develop core technologies like cell manufacturing, and is looking to expand its product portfolio across segments of two-wheelers and four-wheelers. Ola Electric had recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Tamil Nadu government to acquire land to set up the world’s largest electric vehicle hub at a single location, in Krishnagiri, which will include the company's cell factory, four-wheeler factory and supplier ecosystem.
In addition, the company will be launching an EV motorcycle at the end of 2023 and has indicated a slate of nine products over the next three years in the two-wheel and four-wheel segments.
