New Delhi: Taxi aggregator Ola, run by ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd, has
appointed former chief executive of Vodafone Group Plc Arun Sarin as an
independent director on its board.
Sarin will contribute to Ola’s overall business strategy in an advisory role and will help drive growth in the market, Ola said in a statement on Tuesday.
Sarin served Vodafone Group as its chief executive for five years, driving the company’s expansion into emerging markets such as India, Turkey and Africa. He also led the growth of data and Internet businesses globally.
Before joining Vodafone, Sarin was president of AirTouch Communications. He has also worked with Pacific Telesis Group, which was later merged with AirTouch.
Sarin has also served on numerous boards, including that of The Gap Inc. and the Court of the Bank of England. He was also a senior advisor to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co. LP, a global private equity group. Sarin is currently a non-executive director of Cisco Systems Inc., Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. and Blackhawk Network Inc.
“Ola is creating immense value in the transportation and mobility space in India. The company has scaled rapidly to benefit customers and partners using technology and innovative business models. Bhavish (Aggarwal) is an outstanding entrepreneur with a good team around him. I’m happy to help Ola grow into one of India’s largest businesses serving tens of millions of customers everyday,” said Sarin.
Until recently, boards of Indian start-ups were largely dominated by their founders and private equity (PE) backers. However, with companies attracting more capital, they are now focusing on strengthening their boards by bringing in top global executives who can help steer the fast-growing companies as competition becomes fierce.
“Arun brings a global perspective and a strong understanding of emerging markets like India. His experience in management and in growing large companies is invaluable to Ola. Arun is globally respected as a business icon and we at Ola will stand to benefit from his mentorship and guidance. I’m very excited about Arun joining us on the board as we look forward to building mobility for a billion people,” said Bhavish Aggarwal, chief executive and co-founder of Ola.
Founded in January 2011 by two IIT Bombay alumni, Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, Ola serves users in 100-plus cities. It currently has at least 200,000 vehicles listed on its platform, including auto-rickshaws in Bangalore, Delhi, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad, and Kaali-Peeli taxis in Mumbai.
Ola is backed by Russian venture capital firm DST Global, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, Falcon Edge Capital, SoftBank Group, Tiger Global Management, Steadview Capital and Accel Partners.
In March, Ola acquired rival TaxiForSure in a cash-and-stock deal worth $200 million to strengthen its position in the taxi services market.
Sarin will contribute to Ola’s overall business strategy in an advisory role and will help drive growth in the market, Ola said in a statement on Tuesday.
Sarin served Vodafone Group as its chief executive for five years, driving the company’s expansion into emerging markets such as India, Turkey and Africa. He also led the growth of data and Internet businesses globally.
Before joining Vodafone, Sarin was president of AirTouch Communications. He has also worked with Pacific Telesis Group, which was later merged with AirTouch.
Sarin has also served on numerous boards, including that of The Gap Inc. and the Court of the Bank of England. He was also a senior advisor to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co. LP, a global private equity group. Sarin is currently a non-executive director of Cisco Systems Inc., Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. and Blackhawk Network Inc.
“Ola is creating immense value in the transportation and mobility space in India. The company has scaled rapidly to benefit customers and partners using technology and innovative business models. Bhavish (Aggarwal) is an outstanding entrepreneur with a good team around him. I’m happy to help Ola grow into one of India’s largest businesses serving tens of millions of customers everyday,” said Sarin.
Until recently, boards of Indian start-ups were largely dominated by their founders and private equity (PE) backers. However, with companies attracting more capital, they are now focusing on strengthening their boards by bringing in top global executives who can help steer the fast-growing companies as competition becomes fierce.
“Arun brings a global perspective and a strong understanding of emerging markets like India. His experience in management and in growing large companies is invaluable to Ola. Arun is globally respected as a business icon and we at Ola will stand to benefit from his mentorship and guidance. I’m very excited about Arun joining us on the board as we look forward to building mobility for a billion people,” said Bhavish Aggarwal, chief executive and co-founder of Ola.
Founded in January 2011 by two IIT Bombay alumni, Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, Ola serves users in 100-plus cities. It currently has at least 200,000 vehicles listed on its platform, including auto-rickshaws in Bangalore, Delhi, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad, and Kaali-Peeli taxis in Mumbai.
Ola is backed by Russian venture capital firm DST Global, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, Falcon Edge Capital, SoftBank Group, Tiger Global Management, Steadview Capital and Accel Partners.
In March, Ola acquired rival TaxiForSure in a cash-and-stock deal worth $200 million to strengthen its position in the taxi services market.
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