Ola Electric, the EV focused segment of Indian ridesharing giant Ola, announced it has raised USD 100 million in debt from Bank of Baroda. Ola Electric, that focuses on electric scooter manufacturing and selling, will be using this fund in its EV manufacturing facility to make over 10 million electric scooters annually.
Ola Electric and Bank of Baroda, on Monday, inked a long-term debt financing agreement to raise USD 100 Million. Ola Electric plans to build and has started construction of the largest two-wheeler mega-factory in the world on a 500-acre area in the Krishnagiri district in Tamil Nadu. The mega-factory is expected to be operational by 2022 and will have an initial manufacturing capacity of 2 million annually. The mega-factory, known as Ola FutureFactory, will be Ola Electric’s global hub for manufacturing and production to develop and commercialize electric scooters and two-wheelers in India and international markets such as Latin America, Europe, U.K., Asia Pacific, New Zealand, and Australia. Earlier this month, Ola unveiled the complete look of its first electric scooter which can go from 0-60 in a matter of seconds. The 10-year debt fund will be used to fund and for financial closure of Ola Futurefactory’s Phase I. The deal signed is the largest long-term debt financing agreement in the EV segment of Indian Market. The news comes just days after ride hailing behemoth Ola raised USD 500 million in a financing round led by Temasek and Warburg Pincus, ahead of its initial public offering (IPO).
In 2020, Ola Electric had gained a controlling stake in Etergo BV, an electric scooter company based in Amsterdam, to launch its own line of scooters. According to Bhavish Aggarwal, Chairman and Group CEO of Ola, the company is highly focused on speeding-up the transition of transport towards sustainable mobility and manufacture made-in-India EVs for the global market. As of now, Ola Electric is valued over a billion dollars and is backed by global investors such as Matrix Partners, Tiger Global Management, and Softbank, among others.
