Ola Consumer
| File:Ola Cabs logo.png | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Internet |
| Founded | Bangalore, Karnataka, India (3 December 2010) |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters | Koramangala, , India[1] |
Number of locations | 100 cities (2015) |
Area served | India |
Key people |
|
| Owner | ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd |
| Website | olacabs.com |
OlaCabs, popularly known as Ola, is a popular mobile app for personal transportation in India. Ola started as an online cab aggregator in Mumbai, now based out of Bangalore and is among the fastest growing businesses in India. Taxi booking facility can be availed through app, website or through calls.
It was founded on 3 December 2010 by Bhavish Aggarwal (currently CEO) and Ankit Bhati. By 2014, the company has expanded to a network of more than 200,000 cars across 100 cities. In November 2014, Ola expanded to incorporate autos on-trial basis in Bengaluru.[2] Post the trial phase, Ola Auto expanded to other cities like Delhi, Pune and Chennai starting December 2014.
Service
Olacabs provides different types of cab service ranging from economic to luxury travel.[3] The cabs can be reserved through a web browser or a mobile app. This cab service supports both cash and cashless payment options with Ola money. It claims to clock an average of more than 150,000 bookings per day and commands 60 percent of the market share in India.[4]
Funding
It raised $330k[5] in its initial round of funding on April 21, 2011. The company received Series A funding of $5 million from Tiger Global Management; Series B funding of USD 20 million from Matrix Partners and Tiger Global; Series C funding of $41.5 million from Steadview Capital, Sequoia Capital and its existing investors. In Series D round of funding on Oct 25, 2014, it raised $210 million from SoftBank Internet and Media Inc. and its existing investors.[6][7][8]
On April 9, 2015 - OLACabs raised $400 million in series D funding from SoftBank, ABG Capital, Accel Partners, Mauritius Investments, Tiger Global Management & two other investors.[citation needed] The newest funding rounds have been led by DST Global which has pumped about $40mn in Olacabs at a valuation of $3.5bn.[citation needed]
Acquisitions
OlaCabs bought TaxiForSure or TFS on 1 March 2015,[9] for about $200 million.[10] From the 25th of June 2015, Ola users have gained access to TFS cabs via the Ola mobile application.[11]
Criticism
Technology
OlaCabs' technology came under criticism when an engineer stumbled upon its unsecured mobile app. The API calls could be replayed to top up its wallet.[12] OlaCabs was quick to fix the glitch much before this came out in the open. Questions have been raised on responsible disclosure practices especially in the case of companies which do not have a bug bounty program running.
Over billing and transparency in billing
Many customers have reported billing errors with OlaCabs due to technical glitches in the system.[13] The refund policy of OlaCabs has also come under a lot of criticism as it has been observed that OlaCabs is making money to the tune of Crores in INR because of billing errors caused due to technical glitches in their system.[14] A group called TeamUnknown have claimed on Reddit that they have been able to hack OlaCabs system. All customer data including credit card/debit card information were exposed to the hacker group. OlaCabs have categorically denied that their system was hacked by TeamUnknown.[15] A petition has been started on change.org to bring in more transparency and accountability to practices of OlaCabs and other taxi services in India.[16]
Driver Credibility
The Delhi Transport authority in early 2015 had raised questions regarding the credibility and required verification of the drivers plying Ola cabs along with other competitors like Uber and TaxiForSure. The inquiry has revealed that approx. 80% of drivers amongst all services did not possess permits to ply commercial transport services in Delhi.[17]
References
- ^ Olacabs - ANI Technologies. "About us - Car rental - car hire - taxi India - Olacabs.com". olacabs.com.
- ^ "Now Book Auto Rickshaws in Bangalore via Ola Cabs". NDTV Gadgets.
- ^ "Ola aims to counter Uber with its Biz-class service". timesofindia-economictimes.
- ^ "Ola now has $250-300M annual gross transaction run rate; peek at its numbers - VCCircle". vccircle.com.
- ^ "Olacabs raises Rs.250 crore Series C funding". YourStory.com.
- ^ "Olacabs joins Rs 1,000 crore club with new fund-raise". The Times of India.
- ^ "Forbes India Magazine - Ola Cabs raises $210 mln led by SoftBank". forbesindia.com.
- ^ https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/ani-technologies/
- ^ Jon Russell (10 July 2014). "How Ola Cabs is Battling Uber in India". The Next Web.
- ^ "Olacabs to buy TaxiForSure to take on competitors like Uber; deal likely at Rs 1,250 crore". timesofindia-economictimes.
- ^ "Ola cabs app and Taxi For Sure get into a relationship. Twitter trolls prove how complex it is". Business Insider.
- ^ "Taxi aggregator Ola hit by tech glitches that allow free rides". timesofindia-economictimes.
- ^ "OLA ka GOLA". OLA ka GOLA.
- ^ http://trak.in/tags/business/2015/05/13/ola-billing-issues/
- ^ "Ola Cabs Denies Claims User Details, Credit Card Data Compromised". NDTV Gadgets.
- ^ "Petition · Bring More Transparency and Accountability in Billing Practice of Taxi Services in India · Change.org". Change.org.
- ^ "80% of Uber, Ola cabs don't have permits to ply in Delhi, says minister". The Indian Express.