Indian ride-hailing firm Ola expands into Australia

Customers can hail bikes, rickshaws and electric cars in India using Ola

Ola co-founder and chief executive Bhavish Aggarwal dominates the Indian ride-hailing market (REUTERS)

Indian ride-hailing firm Ola is launching in Australia in its first overseas expansion.

Ola will offer services across Sydney, Melbourne and Perth starting on Tuesday and will compete with rival firm Taxify in Australia.

Taxify, an Eastern European startup, launched its Sydney services in December and expanded into Melbourne in January.

Ola co-founder and chief executive Bhavish Aggarwal said he was “very excited” and could see “immense potential” in embracing innovation.

Founded in 2011, the startup offers bikes, rickshaws and electric cars as ride-hailing options.

Ola operates in 110 cities across India. Uber, by comparison, operates in 29 cities in the country.

Unlike its US rival, Ola allows riders the choice of streaming music and videos in its vehicles.

The firm says it also offers free wifi inside its vehicles, even in poorly connected areas of India.

Ola has rapidly expanded after it raised $1.1bn (£778m) in a funding round led by China’s internet giant Tencent and Japan’s Softbank in October.

Google made its first ride-hailing investment in Asia on Monday, pumping money into Indonesian startup Go-Jek.

According to Reuters, sources close to Google said the tech giant was investing about $100m.

Rivals Grab and Uber are also expanding into Southeast Asia, home to the world’s third-biggest ride hailing market after China and the US.