Ola Cabs, the cab aggregator platform Ola SoftBank-backed ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd, is likely launch its initial public offering (IPO) in the second half of next financial year, said Bhavish Aggarwal, the firm’s founder and group chief executive officer.
The Bengaluru-based ride-sharing firm initially eyed the public listing earlier this year which was postponed due to volatile equity markets and uncertain macroeconomic conditions.
“We aim to launch the IPO in the second half of next year,” Aggarwal said this on the sidelines of the public rollout of its third software update, MoveOS 3, which has added new features to the company's S1 family of scooters. The countrywide rollout will allow two-wheelers to add a range of 50 km with just 15 minutes of fast charging at Ola Hyperchargers.
Besides hypercharing, the update includes features such as improved hill hold, proximity unlock, party mode, vacation mode, regen mode, display mode and others. In the Beta roll out, the company provided updates to more than 10,000 users.
“We will launch more products in the next one year…over the next few months, we will release our financials and it will show how much capital efficient our business is..,” Aggarwal said in a press conference on Thursday.
“Our EV two-wheeler business will turn cash positive and EBIDTA positive by 2023,” he added.
Ola Electric, the electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing arm of the group firm, also has plans to bring EV bikes and electric cars to market by 2024.
Aggarwal cited ambitious rollout including subscription models for electric two-wheelers, in which a buyer can rent the vehicle rather than purchasing it.
Ola Electric produces 1,000 units per day on an average. The firm has seen over 60% monthly growth, double of the overall two-wheeler EV industry growth of nearly 30%, the company recently stated.
In July, Ola Electric announced it had surpassed Rs 500 crore in revenue in the first two months of FY22-23, but did not disclose the total number of vehicles sold during the two months. Last month, Ola Electric said it had sold approximately 20,000 units of its electric scooters and had a “strong performance” during the festive season.
By the end of 2023, the firm plans to further launch its own lithium-ion cell, an important component in making batteries for EVs. At present, India's EV manufacturers rely on lithium-ion battery cells from China, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea. Ola currently sources its cells from LG Chem, South Korea.
"We will be India's first and largest lithium-ion cell manufacturers. We had been building the technology for the last two years... we have already built our own tech without any dependence on other countries or players," Aggarwal said. The move to produce the cell in India could help reduce the cost of battery pack by 40-50%.
He added that they are putting up a large Gigafactory in Krishnagiri for the lithium-ion cell. "We will first utilise it to our bikes and think of monetizing the same and make it available for the market, he said.
Ola recently announced a $500 million investment in battery innovation and indigenous research and development (R&D). “The initial capacity of the plant will be around five gigawatts (GW),” Aggarwal added.
