Ola Electric likely to drive in IPO at a lower valuation of $4.5 billion

Bengaluru: Industry sources indicate that Ola Electric, a SoftBank-supported electric vehicle manufacturer, is expected to target a valuation of around $4.5 billion in its upcoming IPO. This represents a decrease of approximately 18 pc from its previous funding round valuation of about $5.5 billion.

According to sources, the company founded by Bhavish Aggarwal plans to submit their IPO next month. A source stated that the plan is to set an appealing price for the IPO to encourage investors and support long-term growth and wealth creation. When reached out to, the company refused to provide a comment.

On June 20, Ola Electric was given the green light by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to move forward with its IPO plans, aiming to raise Rs 7,250 crore (approximately $860 million). This gesture paved the way for Ola Electric to be the inaugural Indian electric vehicle company to go public.

Last year in October, Ola Electric revealed it had obtained around Rs 3,200 crore ($380 million) in funding through a combination of equity and debt. According to sources, the funding was secured from prominent investors led by Temasek and project debt from State Bank of India, increasing its valuation to $5.5 billion from $5 billion. Nevertheless, it is anticipated that this valuation will decrease due to changes in global tech stock valuations. The money raised in October last year was meant to prepare for the IPO, with Aggarwal aiming for a $6 billion valuation.

Aggarwal intends to offer for sale a portion of his ownership in the IPO, amounting to 47.4 million shares or 3.48 pc of the total stake. Additional shareholders selling their ownership stakes include Indus Trust, Alpine Opportunity Fund, DIG Investment, Internet Fund III (Tiger Global), MacRitchie Investments, Matrix Partners, SoftBank Vision Fund, Alpha Wave Ventures, and Tekne Private Ventures.