Electric two-wheeler (2W) manufacturer Ola Electric has raised Rs 3,200 crore (around $384.4 million) in a mix of equity and debt, in its latest funding round.
VCCircle reported last month that existing investor Temasek, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, led the equity tranche of around $140 million with the rest of the equity corpus from mostly family offices.
On the other hand, it has raised debt to the tune of $240 million from the country’s largest public sector bank, the State Bank of India.
Ola Electric is planning to use the funds to expand its business and set up India's first lithium-ion cell manufacturing facility in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu. It will also invest in ramping up new product launches including electric cars, the company said in a release.
“At Ola, our vision is to end the ICE age in automobiles and our upcoming gigafactory will be a leap in India’s journey towards becoming a global EV hub. We are committed towards developing core technologies in EVs and are scaling up manufacturing to further accelerate the transition to sustainable mobility,” said Bhavish Aggarwal, founder and chief executive officer, Ola Electric.
Ola Electric said that its lithium-ion cell manufacturing facility will have an initial capacity of 5 GWh in phase I, which will be further scaled up in phases to 100 GWh at full capacity.
The company has recently expanded its scooter portfolio to five products: S1 Pro, S1 Air, S1X+, S1X (3kWh), and S1X (2kWh). It said that these EVs are built on a newer and advanced platform.
Meanwhile, Ola Electric is said to have appointed investment banks and is preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) in early 2024. The company is also looking at raising another funding round before the IPO.
The company’s loss rose to Rs 784 crore in FY22 from Rs 199 crore in the fiscal before. Its revenue for the period increased to Rs 373 crore in FY22 from Rs 86 lakh in the previous financial year. It is yet to update its financials for FY23 with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).
