Olacabs raises Series B funding led by Matrix Partners

Mumbai-based ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd, which runs an online marketplace for cabs and car rental services under the brand Olacabs (Olacabs.com), has raised Series B round of funding led by Matrix Partners India for a big minority stake, with participation from existing investor Tiger Global Management. Although the company has not disclosed the amount, media reports pegged it at $20 million.

Olacabs said in a statement that the capital raised from this round will be used to expand its operations to newer markets and to deepen its technology and analytics expertise. "Combined with the rich global expertise of our existing investor Tiger Global, this partnership (with Matrix Partners) gives us the support and resources to grow rapidly at the pace we intend to. We will continue to create substantial value for our drivers/operators by helping them buy own cars and improving business for them thereby nurturing micro-entrepreneurship," said Bhavish Aggarwal, co-Founder and CEO, Olacabs.

Techcircle.in had reported in July that the firm has raised over $3 million in fresh funding from existing investor Tiger Global. The firm had raised Series A funding by hedge fund Tiger Global, which has been one of the most active early stage private investors in the internet business in the country. It had raised around Rs 20 crore ($4 million back then) in early 2012 from Tiger Global.

We had also reported that Olacabs was in talks for a Series B round. The firm had previously raised angel funding from a bunch of individual investors, including Rehan Yar Khan and Anupam Mittal.

Olacabs was founded in January 2011 by IIT Bombay alumni Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati. Prior to Olacabs, Aggarwal was working as assistant researcher at Microsoft Research, India, while Bhati was working as system administrator at Wilcom.

The services provided by Olacabs include point-to-point services within the city, hour-based rental services and bookings for outstation travel. Recently, the firm expanded its operations to Chennai, with plans to go to other non-metro and tier II cities soon.

It would be yet another online cab rental services venture to get another institutional round of funding this year. Inventus-backed Savaari raised an undisclosed amount from Intel Capital and Taxiforsure, which had got seed funding from Accel Partners, Blume Ventures and Helion Venture Partners last year, scooped a Series A round from existing investors. Olacabs, however, has raised much more than its peers, in terms of quantum.

(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)