Ride-hailing company Ola on Wednesday said it has raised $1.1 billion (nearly Rs 7,180 crore) in funding from Chinese conglomerate Tencent Holdings. The company’s current largest shareholder Softbank and a few other investors had also participated in this round of funding.
“Ola is also in advanced talks with other investors to close an additional $1 billion as part of the current financing round, concluding a total raise of over $2 billion,” the company said.
The funding is expected to help ANI Technologies, Ola’s parent company, bolster its fight against its rival, United States-based Uber Technologies.
Ola said it will use the funds to improve the supply of cabs and technology and will also make technology investments into the fields of artificial intelligence and machine learning capabilities.
“Tencent Holdings Limited, a leading internet company in China, will bring significant expertise to Ola as it furthers its leadership position across the mobility market in India,” Ola said.
In May, ANI Technologies had reported that its losses had nearly tripled to Rs 2,313.7 crore in the financial year that ended on March 31, 2016, from Rs 796 crore the year before. The company had attributed the loss to heavy discounts for customers and incentives for Ola drivers, among other factors.
At the same time, Ola’s revenue grew seven times to Rs 758.23 crore in 2015-’16 from Rs 103.8 crore the previous year.
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