2018: The year that Ola cruised into Australia, New Zealand and the UK

For Ola, 2018 was all about international expansions and focus on Foodpanda - the Rocket Internet-backed foodtech platform it acquired in December 2017. Yes, there were strikes and driver unrest, but these weren’t as explosive as the previous years. What stood out for the ride-hailing company this year was its foray into international markets starting with Australia and then moving to UK and later New Zealand.

Late last year, the company raised $1.2 billion funding led by Softbank the Japanese conglomerate, and since then it has left no stone unturned to capture newer markets.

Ola is already present across over 11 categories in 110 cities in India and claims to have over 125 million users in the country. The team claims to have over one million driver-partners in India and on an aggregate basis, Ola claims it serves as many as a billion rides annually through its platform.

YourStory presents a timeline of Ola’s journey in 2018.

Also read some of our coverage of Ola through 2018

Ecommerce to ride-sharing: Ex-Ebay CEO Simon Smith's take on why Australia is important to Ola 

Ola launches Ola Mobility Institute, its policy research and social innovation 

Ola invests $100 M in bike-sharing platform Vogo; to supply 100K scooters

Foodpanda acquires Holachef to enter the cloud kitchen business

Ola launches Ola Guardian, a real-time customer ride monitoring system for ride safety 

What is playing inside Ola Play