India’s homegrown cab hailing major Ola on Tuesday acquired popular transportation app Ridlr. However, Ola did not disclose the financial details of the deal and hence value of the deal could not be ascertained.
Last month Techpluto had reported that Ola is in talks to buy Ridlr in order to improve its navigation facilities. Ridlr offers information on bus and train routes in selected cities and also enables customers to buy tickets. Besides, the popular app offers up-to-date traffic details to all its customers.
Following the deal, Ridlr’s current workforce constituting of 64 employees along with co-founder Brijraj Vaghani will be joining Ola’s team, a press statement released by Ola said.
Commenting on acquisition, Ola’s founder Bhavish Aggarwal said: “Mumbai-based Ridlr, in a short span, has made huge strides, and this latest acquisition lends muscle to our efforts in making transport a far more holistic service.”
Ridlr was incorporated in 2012 by two aspiring entrepreneurs Vaghani and Ravi Khemani. Offering services only in Mumbai and Delhi, the app over the years has gained huge traction and popularity.
Ridlr acquisition comes at a very critical time for Ola
Ridlr’s acquisition comes at a time when Ola is apparently standing on a critical crossroads. The pressure on the homegrown cab hailing major to turn profitable can be gauged from the fact that it has taken some big decisions in the past few months. Be it acquisition of the FoodPanda in December last year, or starting international services in Australia or shutting down its bus shuttle services.
Besides, Ola’s supposed merged talks with its main rival Uber is also making things pretty interesting for the unicorn startup. If this high profile merger does go through then it will make Ola the undisputed leader in the Indian cab hailing market.