Ola Founders Get Allotted Fresh Shares Worth Rs 544 Cr

Entrepreneurs Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, co-founders of Ola, have amassed some substantial personal fortune while scaling their business to great heights. The duo achieved a multi-billion dollar valuation of its startup launched only a decade ago.

Both Aggarwal and Bhati, recently received 2,56,038 equity shares at a nominal price of Rs 10 per share, the fresh allotment being a part of an agreement with Ola’s investors in the past where its backers agreed to incentivize them on completion of a defined threshold. These new issues are usually given to keep the founders motivated even as they dilute their holdings during fundraising.

The entire allotment is estimated to be of Rs 544 Crore with Aggarwal receiving 176,646 equity shares worth around Rs 375.4 crore while Bhati being allotted 79,392 shares worth Rs 168.7 crore.

Counted among a few dozen successful entrepreneurs, they have successfully added a few hundreds of crores to their personal net worth increasing the value of their stakes in Ola which is already worth several thousand crore rupees.

In December 2019, having a valuation of $6.2 billion (about Rs 44,000 crore) of Ola, Aggarwal and Bhati raised Rs 2,244 Cr from Korean automotive giants Hyundai & Kia Motors, by diluting their stakes. At the time, the value of each share was priced Rs 21,250. The same share value has been used to arrive at the value of fresh stocks allotted to the co-founders. The fresh allotments have now strengthened their holdings again.

Besides their stake in Ola’s core cab-hailing business, Aggarwal and Bhati also owned 25.17%  and 11.52% respectively in Ola Financials at the end of FY19. Ola also has a separate electric vehicle business called Ola Electric, incorporated in 2017. Unlike ANI Technologies (owner of Ola) and Ola Financial Services, Bhati is not a shareholder in Ola Electric.