Ola looks to invest $500 million in `Drive Your Own Car’ market
29 Mar 2019
Ride-hailing platform Ola Cabs plans to invest over $500 million (about Rs3,750 crore) to tap the potential of `self-drive’ car rental market as it looks to increase service offers to customers, say reports.
The Bengaluru-based company will spread the launch of the `self-drive’ transport service over the next few years, says a report in The Economic Times.
Ola’s `self-drive’ service will compete with existing players like Zoom Car, Drivezy, with a planned fleet of around 10,000 vehicles, comprising a mix of luxury sedans and SUVs, and will be made available in major cities, according to the report.
Ola hopes to finance the new initiative with a mix of debt and equity.
While the self-drive car rental service will be launched in the coming weeks in a few major markets,” further deployment in other cities will be based on market feedback, the report quoted Ola sources as saying.
Ola plans to build a subscription service for consumers and leasing services for corporate executives through the Ola Corporate offering.
With investments from Tiger Global and Matrix India, among others, Ola recently raised Rs400 crore for its electric vehicles (EV) subsidiary, Ola Electric Mobility.
Experts see these moves as part of Ola’s broader strategy to expand away from ride-hailing and towards higher-margin businesses.