The Ola Group currently holds over half of all patents filed by India’s 117 unicorns, ranging from ride-hailing to electric vehicles and artificial intelligence.
Based on statistics from the Indian Patent Advanced Search (IPAS) System, Ola Group holds over half of the 229 patents owned by India’s unicorns in total.
“Happy to see Ola group @OlaElectric @Olacabs and @Krutrim own half of all patents awarded to all Indian unicorns combined,” posted Ola Founder Bhavish Aggarwal recently on X (formerly Twitter). Nonetheless, we’re not content with our 650 filed patents. We’ll gather even more pace in the next few years.”
Over 650 patent applications, out of which 180 have been cleared already, have been submitted by the company as per sources in Ola. This includes applications made by Krutrim, Ola Consumer, and Ola Electric, of which Ola Electric has contributed to a significant proportion—approximately 70–80%.”.
Based on the survey, 101 unicorns in India have not filed any patent applications, indicating a strong shift in the startup ecosystem away from technological innovation and towards valuation and market acquisition.
The Ola Group’s IP portfolio is a prime example of deep-tech commitment in this context. India’s leading filer of patents in the electric vehicle space, Ola Electric, submitted 205 patents in FY23 alone. The patents span across a broad array of subjects, ranging from safety systems to AI, car software, and battery innovation.
Ola Electric made a research and development investment of ₹507 crore in FY23 alone, which was 19.3% of its annual revenue and represented a substantial rise from ₹175 crore in FY18. With ₹1,600 crore allocated to research and development during FY25-FY27, the company intends to heavily boost its investment in innovation.
As per its initial public offering (IPO) prospectus, “R&D and technology form the backbone of our business model.”
With patents granted and pending in the U.S., U.K., Japan, China, and Australia, the group’s files also reach across the world, making Ola a multinational tech-enabled company.