Ola reported 3X rise in y-o-y losses in FY16; revenue grew 7X

Ola, the largest ride hailing company in the domestic market, reported ~7 times y-o-y rise in the revenues for the year ending March’16. However, the losses also mounted for the firm in proportion to the revenues, and jumped 3X on the back of heavy discounts to customers and spending on incentives to its drivers. In FY16, the startup recorded INR758.2 crore of revenues compared to INR103.8 crore in FY15, while losses mounted to INR2,313.7 crore from INR796 previously.

The company is currently fending off an aggressive expansion push from Uber which was a late entrant in the domestic ride sharing industry, but has gained significant market share on the expense of Ola. As a repercussion of this battle, both the firms are bleeding cash. Ola has so far raised nearly $1.5 billion over the past three years from a clutch of investors such as SoftBank, Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners and DST Global. It is in talks with existing and new investors to further raise $500 million, however, those discussions are not progressing anywhere on valuation and future growth concerns. Uber, after selling its Chinese business, has freed itself from the cash guzzling Chinese business, and has diverted its focus and financial muscle on its second largest market, India.