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Ola issues fresh shares to co-founders Aggarwal and Bhati

Ola issues fresh shares to co-founders Aggarwal and Bhati
Photo Credit: VCCircle
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ANI Technologies, which runs homegrown mobility startup Ola, recently issued new shares worth crores of rupees to co-founders Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati.

The Bengaluru-based startup issued equity worth Rs 17.7 lakh ($23,618) to Aggarwal and Rs 7.9 lakh ($10,615) to Bhati, according to regulatory filings made on July 3. 

The equity was allotted at a price of Rs 10 per share (13 cents). The shares are worth Rs 544 crore ($72.7 million), as per an Entrackr report published on Monday. Aggarwal was allotted 176,646 equity shares, while Bhati received 79,392 shares.

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The company was valued at $6.2 billion when it raised $351.5 million in a funding round led by South Korean automotive major Hyundai Motor Company last year.

In February, the company also increased its pool of employee stock options, weeks before the government deferred payable taxes on the exercise of employee stock option plans (ESOPs) by five years in the union budget.

Founded by IIT Bombay alumni Aggarwal and Bhati in 2011, Ola is streamlining its costs for its initial public offering (IPO) in 2021. It decided to trim jobs of about 1,400 employees or about 25% of its workforce in May.

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The unicorn’s cost optimisation efforts were shown in its profit and loss statement for the financial year ended March 2019. The company’s total expenses reduced by 27% to Rs 3,315.48 crore and advertising promotional expenses dropped by 60% to Rs 153.81 crore.

Over the past two years, the company has entered three overseas markets -- Australia, UK and New Zealand -- as part of its efforts to keep up with its competitor, San Francisco based Uber.

It had also entered the food delivery sector by acquiring Foodpanda’s India operations.

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