SoftBank-backed Ola reportedly picks Citigroup and Kotak Mahindra for its $1 billion IPO

• Ola is reportedly seeking a valuation of $8 billion from its IPO.
• Last month, the cab-hailing app had raised $500 million from investment titans Temasek and Warburg Pincus.
• Ola was launched, a decade ago, by Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati.

India’s Uber-rival Ola has picked up banks to manage its share sale to the public, as per a media report.

On Monday, news platform Bloomberg reported that the ride-hailing company has selected banks “including” Citigroup and Kotak Mahindra Bank, quoting sources it did not name.

According to the news report, Ola is planning to raise $1 billion (around ₹7300 crore at current exchange rate) from its initial public offering (IPO).

When Business Insider reached out to Ola via a text message, its spokesperson declined to comment.

As per Bloomberg, Ola is seeking a valuation of $8 billion from its IPO.

Last month, Ola had raised $500 million from investment titans Temasek and Warburg Pincus.

Ola was founded in 2010 by Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati. The company has its presence across three continents. It has raised billions of dollars from marquee investors like SoftBank, Tencent, Steadview Capital, Eternal, Sailing Capital, China Eurasian Economic Cooperation Fund and others.

It had been planning its public market debut since 2019. The company had also set up a pre-IPO trust in September 2019. Ola had also started to restructure its business with layoffs, optimising teams and adding more top executives to the mix. According to a Reuters report published in 2019, Ola was planning to hit the public market by March 2021. However the plans were obviously pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ola had to lay off about 1,400 employees from its workforce in May 2020, as its revenue had declined by 95% in the first two month of the pandemic-induced lockdown during wave one.

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