Ola was the company that brought app-based cabs and auto-rickshaws to mainstream India and fought Uber to a standstill through the 2010s. Since 2022 it has shrunk: revenue fell by more than 40% in FY25, it trails Uber in four-wheelers, and Rapido has passed it in overall users. The business, renamed Ola Consumer, is now focused on cutting costs and getting to a listing. The company is headquartered in Bangalore, India. Ola (ANI Technologies) was founded in December 2010 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, by Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati before moving headquarters to Bengaluru, pioneering smartphone-based ride-hailing and expanding into consumer financial services, quick commerce, and enterprise logistics.
Ola is an asset-light marketplace: independent drivers own their cars, autos and bikes, and Ola supplies demand, dispatch, maps and payments. Historically it took a 15-20% commission on each fare. During FY26 it rolled out a pan-India zero-commission model in which drivers pay fixed daily or monthly subscriptions instead. That trades variable commission income for steadier platform fees, so Ola is building advertising, financial services (via Ola Financial Services, which holds a prepaid payment instrument licence), enterprise travel contracts and subscriptions as additional revenue lines.