Ola, Uber’s Big Rival In India, Raises $400M To Grow To 200 Cities This Year
Summary
The company, which was found to have raised $310 million last week according to filings, is aiming to grow its network to 200 cities in India before the end of the year. Anand Subramanian, director of marketing communication at Ola, told TechCrunch in an interview that the company plans to reach smaller towns in India where it believes its services can have a significant impact. In those smaller locations, Ola’s challenge is two-fold: enticing existing taxi drivers on to its platform and also convincing people to take up driving as a career. To that end, Ola has struck deals with car makers and loans companies to help make the cost of vehicle ownership palatable for its drivers. And it’s easy to see that Ola’s vision is still very much in progress since, with a network of 200 cities under its belt, the company would have real potential to introduce other logistics-related services.