Ola
“Can Ola's mobility platform become the primary financial services gateway for India's mass-market consumers and gig-economy workers?”
Founded in 2010 as a pure ride-hailing marketplace, Ola progressively built an embedded finance layer under its Ola Financial Services (OFS) arm starting around 2017, launching a digital wallet (Ola Money), UPI payments, and postpaid credit. The company made a significant bet on financial services for the underbanked blue-collar segment via the Avail Finance acquisition in 2022, but reversed course by 2023, shutting down the standalone app and re-integrating functionality into Ola Money. The embedded finance strategy has shifted from building owned fintech infrastructure to a partnership model — using Cover Genius for insurance and InCred Finance for personal loans distributed through the Ola app.