Ratan Tata invests in Ola Electric Mobility

Ride hailing major Ola Monday said Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus of Tata Sons, has invested in its EV business - Ola Electric Mobility (OEM). This investment, which is part of OEM's series A round of funding, is in Tata's personal capacity, Ola said in a statement. Details of the funding were not disclosed. "His investment in Ola Electric will bring his deep experience and mentorship to the company's ambitions to make electric mobility viable at scale," it added.

Tata is also an early investor in ANI Technologies, Ola's parent company. He had invested in ANI Technologies in July 2015. 

In March this year, OEM had announced raising Rs 400 crore in a funding round led by Tiger Global and Matrix India. "The electric vehicle ecosystem is evolving dramatically every day, and I believe Ola Electric will play a key role in its growth and development," Tata said. Ola Electric is currently running several pilots involving charging solutions, battery swapping stations, and deploying vehicles across two, three and four-wheeler segments. 

Bhavish Aggarwal, co-founder and CEO of Ola said Tata has been a mentor to him personally, and an inspiration in shaping Ola's journey over the years. "I'm very excited to welcome him on board Ola Electric as an investor and a mentor.... We are privileged to have his guidance and support once again, as we work towards our goal of a million electric vehicles in India by 2021," he added. 

OEM was initially established to enable Ola's electric mobility pilot programme in Nagpur. In 2018, Ola subsequently announced Mission: Electric' to bring 1 million electric vehicles on Indian roads by 2021.