Ola — India’s largest cab-hailing firm has acquired Mumbai-based transportation information provider Ridlr. The deal marks Ola’s expansion as a broader transportation company as it gets into public transport as well. Ola (ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd) and Ridlr (Birds Eye Systems Pvt. Ltd) didn’t disclose the financial terms of the deal, which reportedly involved both cash and stock.
Ola started out as a private cab aggregator in 2011, but it has since added auto rickshaws and kaali peeli taxis.
After a slow start, Ola’s auto-rickshaw business has become a differentiator for the company against rivals Uber over the past year.
With the acquisition of Ridlr, Ola plans to add bus, metro, and train ticket bookings on its platform and try and become a hub of urban transportation for customers. Ridlr’s team of 64 employees, including founder Brijraj Vaghani, will join Ola.
This is Ola's second major acquisition after buying Foodpanda for approximately $40-50 million in December 2017. Investors like Matrix Partners India and Times Internet will get a share in Ola as Ridlr received around $6 million back in July 2016.
Public transportation serves millions of Indians every day, and powering these needs with real-time information, mobile ticketing, cashless payments, and reliable services is bound to impact their end-experience. The challenge really is to make the entire ecosystem inclusive and robust for all. Ridlr, in a short span, has made huge strides in this space, and this latest acquisition lends muscle to our efforts in making transportation a far more holistic service,” Ola co-founder and chief executive Bhavish Aggarwal said in a statement.
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