Ola to acquire financial services firm Avail Finance
Indian ride-hailing firm Ola has announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Avail Finance, a neo bank that provides financial services to the blue-collared workforce and has over 6 million users.
The acquisition is a key step in Ola’s broader push into the fintech space as it looks to build a mobility-focused financial service business under Ola Financial.
With this acquisition, Ola Financial Services will further strengthen its play in the credit underserved segments that comprise blue-collar workers such as Ola’s driver-partner ecosystem. The deal is subject to shareholder approval.
Ola will leverage Avail Finance’s products and capabilities which will strengthen Ola’s lending business and help Ola expand into Neo Banking products. Ola’s fintech business will be augmented by Avail Finance’s strong leadership team with experience in the consumer lending industry, along with a strong technical team across tech, product and design, Data Science and Analytics amongst others, – the company said in a statement.
With this expansion, Ola will be able to cross-sell multiple lending products to its large driver-partner base; providing them a one-stop destination for all their financial needs.
Ola recently invested nearly 800 crores into its financial services business which already is showing strong growth across both its lending and insurance verticals.
Ola Postpaid, its BNPL offering is available to 40M customers and its vehicle financing business is growing rapidly in conjunction with Ola Electric as well as Ola Cars, its used cars business.
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