Ola Financial Services Pvt. Ltd, the financial services arm of taxi aggregator Ola, has raised Rs 205 crore (approximately $27.10 million at current exchange rates) in its first institutional round of funding, according to reports.
Falcon Edge and Matrix Partners have committed capital to Ola Financial, The Economic Times reported, citing regulatory filings. Others that took part include Apoletto Managers and the family office of former Vodafone Group CEO Arun Sarin.
The development comes a little over a month after VCCircle exclusively reported that mobile wallet firm ZipCash, which is operated by Ola Financial, raised Series A funding from a mix of domestic and foreign investors, including Falcon Edge, Matrix Partners and Gemini Investments.
The latest funding has valued Ola Financial at $250 million, per the report.
VCCircle has reached out to Ola Financial on the details of the investment and will update this report accordingly.
Separately, an email by Ola co-founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal to company employees said the crisis brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic has necessitated the need for product innovation in the consumer-first and digital financial services space.
“We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to change this with the reach and capabilities of our core ride-sharing platform,” Aggarwal said in the email, according to The Economic Times.
In 2015, Ola acquired a majority stake in the ZipCash, which was founded in 2007 by former Microsoft executive Vivek Saxena.
Ola, operated by ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd, had bought the stake intending to provide multiple payment channels to its customers. Ola’s main rival, Uber, already has a tie-up with digital wallet Paytm for payments.
Some services offered by the Ola Financial include mobile voucher services for online shopping, utility and other bill payments, DTH recharge and mobile top-ups besides m-vouchers and gift vouchers.
The company has received an RBI license to issue semi-closed payment instruments to customers. It also has partnerships with eBay, BookMyShow, and mobile and DTH service providers.
Ola Financial also runs OlaMoney, a digital wallet that its customers use mainly to pay for cab rides.