Ola, the Indian transportation network company that offers services like peer-to-peer ridesharing, ride service hailing, taxi and food delivery, is to raise $150-$200 million (about ?1,050-?1,400 crore) in funding from technology company Microsoft. According to some news reports the companies are in advanced stages of talks which are likely to conclude in next 10-15 days.
Some of the largest car manufacturers in the world are the customers of Microsoft. The company’s Connected Vehicle Platform (MCVP) is known to provide connectivity, message delivery to the vehicle, and software updates. In 2017, it entered into a partnership with Ola under which the companies are together building a new connected vehicle platform for car manufacturers worldwide.
As part of this strategic partnership, Microsoft is a preferred cloud provider for Ola. The ride hailing company uses Microsoft Azure to power Ola Play, its existing connected car platform. The companies are working together to transform driver and passenger experiences with vehicle diagnostics, improved in-car productivity, advanced navigation, predictive maintenance of vehicles and more. This funding soon to be announced is seen as an extension of this partnership.
Ola has raised about $3 billion in funding, some of its investors are Kia Motors, Sachin Bansal, Ratan Tata, SoftBank, Tencent Holdings, Hyundai Motor Company and others.
Source: PTI
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