INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Ola, Uber chief rival in India, is planning to go public potentially as soon as in three years time, according to its CEO.
Co-founder and
chiefexecutive officer Bhavish Aggarwal told the audience at an event inBengaluru last week that seven-year-old Ola is poised to become a
cash flow positive business — having recently hit operational profitability — and that a key driver towards a listing
That despite intense rumors of a tie-up with Uber following a spree of global exits from the U.S
firm, most recentlyin Southeast Asia where it struck a deal with local player Grab.
&The ambition for both me and [fellow
co-founder]Ankiti[Bhati]has always been to build a sustainable, long-term independent institution,&Aggarwal said atIndia Business Summit &
Leaders Speak, a Bengaluru event from ICICI Bank and CNBC-TV18
&In that direction, we are definitely going to IPO
Our goal is to aim for an IPO in about three to four years
We are on that path, our focus on building a sustainable business model [and] a profitable business builds into that ambition.&
Notably, he
didn&t specify where a listing might take place for Ola, which was most recently valued at $7 billion following an investment last
year.
Doubling down on his belief in building a sustainable and independent business,Aggarwal made a sly dig at Uber in suggesting that the
company is preoccupied with short-term strategies in India.
&The Indian market, which I believe many internet companies don&t fully
appreciate, especially the ones who are not Indian, if you give consumers a lot of free things they&ll take it
But the focus has to be to build a long-term sustainable business model… consumers are not price-conscience in India, consumers are
value-conscious,& he said.
Despite that, he did acknowledge the role of a strong rival in building Ola business over the years
There no clear metric to judge which company is ahead, but with its coverage of more than 100 cities and towns in India, Ola numbers are
higher than Uber, which has stuck to tier-one and -two locations
Although, anecdotally, the gap is slim in urban areas of the country.
&Competition makes you stronger, we don&t fear competition,&Aggarwal
&We have a much stronger business, strong market position and we&re getting to aplace where we can list the company.&
A deal with Uber has
been consistently mooted as part of Uber global exitsthat seemed aimed at cleaning up its balance sheet in preparation for a public listing
of its own, which CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said is likely in 2019
Then,of course, there the SoftBank factor
The Japanese firm is a shareholder in both companies, as was the case with Grab, where it is believed to have pushed for a deal with
Uber.
While there have been talks, sources on both sides have confirmed to TechCrunch,Aggarwal said, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, that &so far
nobody made an [acquisition] offer I can&t refuse.&
Uber, on its side, has said it has no interest in more minority deals — which see it
leave a market in exchange for equity in the local rival — but that could be gamesmanship or a hint that, in the event of a deal in India,
Uber intends to make Ola the minority partner.
Is Ola genuinely aiming for an IPO in three to four years, or are these tactics aimed at
dissuadingUber, SoftBank and others from forcing a union with its big rival That unclear
Aggarwal reiterated that Softbank is merely an investor, one of many Ola investors, but the questions are sure to continue either way
We&re all just going to have to get used to the speculation.
Article updated to note the name of the event
