Ola revenue up 2X in FY22; losses widen as costs rise

livemint.com:

Cab aggregator Ola doubled its revenue in the financial year March 2022, reflecting a recovery from the widespread disruptions caused by the pandemic to the mobility business globally. The company, led by co-founder and chief executive Bhavish Aggarwal, posted a consolidated operating revenue of Rs1,970.4 crore in FY22, rising from Rs983.2 crore in the year before, showed its latest annual filings with the Registrar of Companies. The improved financial performance came amid an easing of covid-induced lockdowns and a gradual recovery in travel demand.

Revenue, however, widely lagged Rs2,662.3 crore in the pre-covid year of FY20. The increased sales failed to outweigh higher costs as Ola widened its net losses in FY22 to Rs1,522.33 crore from Rs1,116.6 crore in FY21. The company was forced to cut costs and lay off staff, helping narrow its losses from Rs2,208.2 crore in FY20.

Ola was started in December 2010 by Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, its former chief technology officer, both of whom were IIT Bombay graduates. It now services over 250 locations in India, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. Ola counts marquee investors such as SoftBank, Tiger Global, Matrix Partners, Temasek and Warburg Pincus among its backers.

It became a unicorn or a startup with a valuation of $1 billion or more in 2015. The group’s business extends beyond mobility, with added financial services offerings including payment systems, insurance agents and cloud kitchens, among others. In FY22, Ola derived about 61% of its revenue or Rs1,208.6 from its ride-hailing business in India, which also posted a loss of Rs101 crore.