Background Of the Entrepreneur

Bhavish Aggarwal
28 August 1985 (age 34)
Born
Ludhiana, Punjab, India
Alma mater Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
Occupation Co-founder and CEO of Ola Cabs
Spouse(s) Rajalakshmi Aggarwal

Bhavish Aggarwal (born 28 August 1985) is an Indian entrepreneur and co-founder of Ola
Cabs.
Contents
 1 Early life
 2 Career
 3 Awards
 4 References
 5 External links

Early life
Aggarwal was born and brought up in Ludhiana, Punjab. ] He completed a bachelor's degree in
computer science and engineering at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in 2008.He started
his career with Microsoft Research India as a Research Intern and later got reinstated as an
Assistant Researcher.

Career
He began his career with Microsoft, where he worked for two years, filed two patents and
published three papers in international journals.[4] In January 2011 he co-founded Ola Cabs with
Ankit Bhati in Bengaluru. In 2015 Aggarwal and Bhati were the youngest to be included in that
year's list of richest Indians.

Awards

ET Awards, Entrepreneur of the year, 2017[8]
History of Enterprise
 Type Private

Industry Transportation

Founded 3 December 2010; 8 years ago

Founder Bhavish Aggarwal

Bengaluru

Headquarters ,

India[1]

India, Australia, New Zealand, UK

Area served
(169+ cities)

Bhavish Aggarwal CEO

Key people
Ankit Bhati CTO

Products Mobile app, website

 Vehicle for hire

Services  Delivery (commerce)
 Food delivery

₹2,222 crore (US$320 million)[2] (FY

Revenue
2018)

Number of
6,000 (2017)
employees

 Foodpanda India
Subsidiaries
 Ola Electric Mobility
Ola Cabs (stylised as OLΛ), is an Indian transportation network company (TNC) offering
services that include peer-to-peer ridesharing, ride service hailing, taxi and food delivery. The
company is based in Bengaluru, Karnataka, India and was developed by ANI Technologies Pvt.
Ltd. As of May 2019, Ola was valued at about $6.2 billion.[3] A variety of venture capitalists
including Softbank have large stakes in the company.[4]

Ola Cabs was founded on 3 December 2010 as an online cab aggregator in Mumbai, and is now
based in Bangalore. As of 2019, the company has expanded to a network of more than 1,500,000
drivers across 250 cities.[5] In November 2014, Ola diversified to incorporate auto rickshaws on a
trial basis in Bengaluru.[6] After the trial phase, Ola Auto expanded to other cities like Delhi,
Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad starting in December 2014.

In January 2018, Ola extended into its first overseas market, Australia, and in New Zealand in
September 2018. In March 2019, Ola began its UK operations introducing auto rickshaws in UK.

Contents
 1 History
 2 Services

2.1 Service category

 3 Ola Electric Mobility

 4 Criticism
o 4.1 Technology
o 4.2 Overcharging and lack of transparency in charging
o 4.3 Driver concerns
 4.3.1 Assaults on and Murders of Ola cab drivers
o 4.4 Driver credibility
 5 References
 6 External links

History
In March 2015, Ola Cabs acquired Bengaluru based taxi service TaxiForSure for approximately
₹1,394 crore (US$200 million).[8] June 2015 onwards, Ola users gained access to TFS cabs via
the Ola mobile application.[9] Later in the year in November, Ola further acquired Geotagg, a
trip-planning applications company, for an undisclosed sum.[10]

In a move to expand beyond cab aggregation, Ola acquired struggling foodtech company
Foodpanda with an eye on leveraging the growing food delivery segment business in December
2017.[11] In April 2018, Ola made its second acquisition with Ridlr (formerly Traffline), a public
transport ticketing app.[12] Later in August 2018, Ola financed Series A funding of the scooter
rent startup Vogo, and again in December, invested another $100 million.[13]

The Karnataka state transport department suspended Ola's operating license for six months for
violation of licence conditions and violation of Karnataka On-Demand Transportation
Technology Aggregator Rules, 2016. This was on account of Ola running bike taxi services
though it only had license for four wheeler taxi operations. The company termed the order
unfortunate and was looking at working with driving partners to continue functioning. They also
claimed to be in touch with authorities to sort things out.[14]

Services

An Ola car on roads of Hyderabad

Ola offers different levels of service, ranging from economic to luxury travel.[15] The cabs are
reserved through a mobile app and also through their website and the service accepts both cash
and cashless payments with Ola money.[16] It claims to clock an average of more than 15,00,000
bookings per day and commands 60% of the market share in India.[17]

Service category

 Auto-Rikshaw
 Bike
 E-Rikshaw
 Luxury
 Luxury SUV
 Micro
 Mini
 Outstation
 Prime Executive
 Prime Play
 Prime Sedan
 Prime SUV
 Rental
 Share
 Shuttle (Closed)
 Taxi
Ola Electric Mobility
Ola spunoff its electric vehicles business into a separate unit called Ola Electric Mobility with
US$56 million of funding capital in February 2019. The funding was provided by Tiger Global
and Matrix India. Apart from electric vehicles, Ola Electric also works on charging solutions, EV
batteries and developing viable infrastructure to allow commercial EVs to operate at scale.[18]
The company announced on 6 May 2019 that Ratan Tata had invested an undisclosed amount in
Ola Electric as part of its Series A round of funding.[19][20]

Ola Electric raised $250 million from SoftBank during Series B round funding in July 2019,
earning a valuation of over $1 billion.[21]

Anand Shah, co-founder, Ola Electric and senior VP, Ola Cabs said that Ola Electric will need
more capital to achieve its target of putting 10 lakh (1 million) EVs on the roads by 2021.[22]

Criticism
Technology

Ola Cabs' technology came under criticism regarding the security of its mobile app. The API
calls could be replayed to top up its wallet.[23]

In August 2016, a privacy breach occurred when customers' details such as names, phone
numbers and addresses, in Bengaluru, were received as SMS messages by an individual in
Chennai. Although these unanticipated messages were reported to Ola, the company ignored
them, even under the threat of being reported to the TRAI.[24] The issue was reportedly fixed
three weeks later after receiving considerable media coverage and social media attention.[25]

Overcharging and lack of transparency in charging

The refund policy of Ola Cabs has been criticised because of charging errors caused by technical
glitches in their system.[26] As of December 2018, there were 190 negative reviews on Ola Cabs
posted on TripAdvisor by dissatisfied customers.[27] Surge pricing has been an issue with
customers, as Ola is said to initially eliminate competition by lowering prices, and then hiking up
prices through what it calls surge pricing. The fact that the same ride can cost different amounts
depending on the time, day and the profiles, history and rating of the driver as well as passenger
has also incurred much customer wrath.[28]

Driver concerns

Ola from January 2017 has been highly criticised for continuously dropping the driver incentives
which in turn is affecting driver-partner's monthly income. Most nowadays fail to cope up with
their monthly EMIs and other dues. Daily income of cab drivers is now equal to auto drivers
running in the city after deducting all dues.[29]

Charges comprise:

 Base fare (fixed amount)

 Distance fare (charged per kilometre)
 Ride time fare (charged per time taken to travel)
 Peak pricing (direct ratio depending on demand for cabs)[30]
 GST (5%)
 Toll charges (toll collection if crossing a toll junction)

Ola and Uber have also been criticised due to their practice of baiting drivers and passengers,
initially with discounts and bonuses, and then hiking up fares without passing the proceeds to
drivers. Their practice of taking large signing up amounts from drivers and not considering them
employees has also been criticised. Both companies contractually treat drivers as "contractors"
thus excusing themselves from any legal obligations.[28] In an interview, Pranay Jivrajka, a co-
founder of OLA, claimed that the company will be creating 50 lakh new "opportunities" in the
next five years. He was, however, careful not use the word jobs for these opportunities. He added
that it was not just about jobs but creating an ecosystem.[31]

Assaults on and Murders of Ola cab drivers

There have been 11 cases of murders, and over 90 cases of kidnapping and robbery of drivers
working for app-based cab aggregators including Ola, by criminals posing as passengers using
fake profiles.[32] The most recent case happened in the city of Pune in June 2019 when a
passenger killed the driver to steal his car.[33] Two other murders of Ola drivers by robbers took
place in New Delhi and Agra respectively.[34]

Driver credibility

Panic button for passengers in an Ola car in Kolkata

Delhi Transport authority in early 2015 questioned the credibility and required verification of drivers
working for Ola, along with other competitors such as Uber. The inquiry revealed that approximately
80% of drivers amongst all services did not possess permit IOSR Journal of Business and
Management (IOSR-JBM)
Marketing Strategy of Ola Cab
May 29, 2019 By Hitesh Bhasin Tagged with Tagged With: Strategic Marketing Articles

The founder of the Cab aggregator which builds up online Marketplace for Taxi, Bhavish
Aggarwal started its entrepreneurial venture in the year 2010 when he experienced the deep
routed problem in India quality Cab service and professionalism of the Cab drivers.

The brand has received series of funding from angel investors and companies like Softbank,
Tekne Capital, Vanguard, Baillie Gifford and Yes Bank. Spurt with the growth in the demand, in
2017 the company has received $ 18 billion.

Page Contents

Segmentation, targeting, positioning in the Marketing

strategy of Ola Cab –
Ola cabs have been using segmentation parameters such as geographically dividing the market it
serves into urban & metro in order to devise promotional and business strategy based on demand
in these markets.

Also, it segments customers on the basis of customer income profile such as Ola Luxury, Prime,
Ola share, autos.

As the company serves different customer segments i.e. long route outstation customers,
customers within 8 Kms, Shuttle service and shared services, therefore it uses differentiation
targeting strategy.

Ola Cabs has positioned itself as a company making mobility easy, convenient, affordable and
safe 24*7.

Tagline-“Chalo Niklo”
Competitive advantage in the Marketing strategy of Ola
Cab –
1. Strategic Acquisitions:

In order to strengthen its business, the company has been acquiring different companies such as
TaxiForSure.com for $ 200 mn in 2015, to strengthen its shuttle service it acquired Geotag, an
intelligent transportation firm in the year 2015, further to introduce Ola money it acquired Qarth
in the year 2016 and recently it acquired Foodpanda to compete in the meta market.

2. Promotional Strategy:

Innovatively thought concept ideas and ads of the company such as Chalo Niklo, ?6/ per Km,
Ola Share pass, Ola outstation, shuttle and Ola peddle has helped the company in being ahead of
its peers.

BCG Matrix in the Marketing strategy of Ola Cab –

The Ola Cab operates in business segments such as Cab services for passengers, for corporate
customers through Ola Shuttle i.e. daily office goers through fixed routes and Ola outstation.

Since Ola had widely penetrated through its Ola passenger segment even in the Tier-3 cities in
India as compared to the peers companies and hold around majority of market share (around
40%), therefore it is Stars in the BCG matrix, and other two segments are in evolving stage and
is question mark in the BCG matrix.
Distribution strategy in the Marketing strategy of Ola Cab –
Operating in 180+ cities in India Ola Cabs serves more than 8,00,000 customers every day by
empowering and collaborating with around 10,00,000 drivers in its platform.

Ola Cabs works with a Platform wherein a customer can easily book a Cab and drivers can easily
get passengers by paying commission to the company. In the process Ola Cabs does not need to
own any car, any driver with duly authorized and verified by transport authorities can work with
Ola.

Ola has a dedicated team of 6000 employees who work dedicatedly to provide best in technology
services to its stakeholders.

Brand equity in the Marketing strategy of Ola Cab –

The Company has been promoting itself with new age popular production houses and short films
such as TVF’s Permanent Roommates, All India Bakchod (AIB), Rear View.

The brand has won various awards and accolades over the years such as in 2013 mBillionth
Award South Asia, by IAMAI Best start-up of the year award, listed 30 in under 30 list of
Forbes. The brand has been valued at $ 5 billion as on March 2017.

Competitive analysis in the Marketing strategy of Ola Cab –

Competing in the market where the unorganized and several modes of transport already exists,
has become easy for the company over the years since it started its operations.

Wide presence as compared to Uber which is present in only 55 cities and also Ola pays the
drivers based on the number of trips as well as gross payment while Uber pays drivers based
Daily collection by the drivers. These are some of the competitive strength that the brand has
created for being ahead of peers.

Ola Cabs competes with operators in the markets such as domestic unorganized Taxi market,
Uber, Meru Cabs etc.

Market analysis in the Marketing strategy of Ola Cab –

As per the reports of research firm ICRA, the domestic Cabs segment has high growth & strong
potential (currently growing at 9%) supported by increased income level, purchasing power
parity and low car penetration in passenger vehicle segment. The fleet sales of which cab
aggregators such as Ola, Uber etc. are part will achieve the growth rate of 15-17 % by 2020.

For strengthening the brand offerings the companies are creating competitive deliverables such
as Ola Cafe by Ola which failed to make its marks in 2016, later on, to which Ola acquired
Foodpanda, UberEats by Uber.

Customer analysis in the Marketing strategy of Ola Cab –

The passenger Cabs services market has 4 segments of customers, those who don’t mind sharing
the cabs, the one who prefer taking personal Cab wherever they go, office goers and outstation /
long journey commuters.

Most of the customers of the Bank across the segment are in the age group of 20-45 years, are
young, office goers, and college student.

BENGALURU: Ola has applied for a permit to launch a non-banking finance company, as it bets
on financial services to diversify beyond the core ride-hailing business where growth is slowing
down, people privy to the matter said.