Denis Opudo
There is an ongoing negotiation to enable Ola to acquire Ridlr Company. The effort will help Ola to drastically expand its operations and improve navigation technology.
Ridlr Company was launched in 2009 jointly by Brijraj Vaghani and Ravi Khemani. The startup is known to provide current navigation information including cancellations, roadblocks, and diversions among others with an aid of GPS platforms. The company managed to raise $6 Million funding in series B round in July 2016. The event was sponsored by Innoven Capital and Times Internet.
Last year December, Ola acquired Foodpanda at a price of $31.7 Million. The acquisition was successful following a misfortune in 2016 when the company did not manage to run Ola Café. In March 2016, the company purchased Qarth which is an online payment platform. This was aimed at strengthening the Ola Money initiative. The deal was later aborted in July 2017 following UIDAI complaints.
Ola had acquired TaxiForSure for $200 Mn in 2015 but was canceled in August 2016 to improve competitiveness against rival Uber. Despite the stiff competition between Ola and Uber, Ola operates in 110 Indian cities while Uber operates in only 29. About 20 investors are looking forward to competing for $3.9 Billion in 11 rounds. This has made most of the companies to change their business tactics with India and across the borders as well. Currently, Ola is conducting a pilot project in Perth at the same time launch its Sydney operations. The company is also planning to expand its operations in North Africa, New Zealand, and Asia in the near future.
The company ability to explore a range of markets in India has enabled it to gain power against Uber, especially in price-sensitivity. The company so far offers Ola Play, autorickshaws, carpooling services among others. RedSeer Consulting recent business report shows that cab aggregator and auto-hailing verticals had a large contribution in 2017. The report details indicated that the two categories last year contributed more than fifteen percent of the entire gross book value (GBV). Very soon, Ola negotiations acquire Ridlr will be completed. This will enable the company to further improve its products and services monopolize the current hailing Indian market.
