Funding Alert: Ola Raises $500 Million, ShareChat Parent Bags $266 Million

The company has raised the amount via Term Loan B (TLB). Institutional investors seek higher yields and can stay invested over longer investment horizons compared to traditional banks that offer such loans. TLBs usually have a floating interest rate with tenures of 5-7 years.

“The proposed loan issuance received a staggering response from investors with interest and commitment of approximately $1.5 billion. Ola is expected to utilize the term loan to fuel its vision for the future of mobility across its various businesses including ride hailing, vehicle commerce, delivery with foods, quick commerce and financial services,” Ola said in a statement.

Bhavish Aggarwal, the founder and CEO at Ola, said the overwhelming response to our term loan B is a reflection of the strength of our business and our continued focus on improving unit economics alongside rapid growth.

“At Ola, we are accelerating our journey towards building the New Mobility ecosystem to help a billion people move sustainably,” he said.

In another development, Mohalla Tech, the parent company of short video platform Moj and ShareChat, on Thursday said it has raised $266 million (about Rs 2,028.3 crore) from Alkeon Capital and others, valuing the company at $3.7 billion.

The series G round also saw participation from new and existing investors including Temasek, Moore Strategic Ventures (MSV), Harbourvest and India Quotient, a statement said.

This is the third round of funding for the startup in 2021.

The latest round of funding will help build deep capabilities on priority areas such as social and live commerce, growing its AI/ML team which is now over a 100 people strong and spread across the US, Europe and India, the statement said.

Since January this year, the company has grown to over 2,000 employees.

With social and live commerce initiatives, the company hopes to reach a target of USD 100 million annualised creator earnings by the end of 2023.