Ola planning to forey into grocery delivery business soon

Ride-hailing app Ola is planning to come out with a $2 billion IPO in early 2022. It has set aside a ₹250-crore budget for grocery delivery business and set to get into the hyper-local and super competitive grocery delivery space with a new mantra.

Ola is reportedly planning to start this division by mid-November and set up 300 dark stores by January and wants to attain a revenue run rate of ₹100 crore a month ahead of IPO.

This is not the first time that the firm will attempt to venture into the category. In July 2015, Ola launched a standalone online grocery store called Ola Store in Bengaluru following other cities but was shut within some time mainly due to poor demand and increasing costs, according to the sources. The idea was to use its cabs and drivers to also deliver groceries, between 9 am and 11 pm.

Ola needs a diverse portfolio of businesses that goes beyond cab aggregation and rides as it prepares to hit the two-wheeler business via Ola Electric in the public markets soon. That may be the reason it is trying to revive its online food and grocery delivery businesses.

Vinay Bhopatkar, who joined the firm in August this year, is heading Ola’s delivery business and has earlier been associated with Cafe Coffee Day, Aditya Birla Fashion, and Asian Paints.