Origin Story
Ankit Bhati came from a family where owning a computer was a luxury. Unfazed, the Jodhpur native embarked on exciting tech explorations in and outside school.
During leisure, Bhati felt at home in the computer centres. It was more fun than playing basketball or engaging in other extracurricular activities. Soon, Bhati became a computer administrator at the centre.
Bhati studied Mechanical Engineering at IIT Bombay. During college, he built websites and took on several freelance projects. This advanced his knowledge and experience with computer systems. Having strong practical knowledge of tech, Bhati pursued an M.Tech degree. This again exposed him to advanced topics in automations and Computer Aided Designs (CAD).
Building Business: How a Hobby Led to a Startup Unicorn
Bhati enjoyed adventure trips involving cycling to fun places with friends. This inspired the idea to simplify people’s daily commute within cities. He co-founded Ola Cabs with Bhavish Aggarwal, his collegemate, in 2010. Ola is a ridesharing platform that allows people to commute for an affordable fee.
Serving as the CTO, Bhati spearheaded the technical operations of the business to design a comfortable rider journey. He also loves to crunch the numbers when his coding hat is off. He loves applying data to resolve technical glitches. At Ola, he had a morning ritual of exploring data.
Bhati says, “Data crunching at Ola involves varied complexities. What’s the driver’s rating? What’s the shortest possible time to reach a passenger’s destination?” He believes these questions can deliver data to improve Ola’s services.
Ola Cabs has closed several successful funding rounds. It raised $139 million in 2021. The Softbank-backed company also gained a $500 million investment from Bhavish, Temasek, and Warburg Pincus. In 2021, Ola had a market value of $7.5 billion.
The Exit: Leaving to Build a New Startup
Bhati parted ways with Ola in 2020. The next year, he co-founded Amnic technologies with Ola’s ex-employees–Satya Nagarajan and Nimish Joshi. Amnic tech is a SaaS venture integrating DevOps toolchains for efficient enterprise software development. The company raised $14 million from Sequoia Capital in a seed round. Amnic tech is registered and listed on Zauba corp. Though, the platform’s founders have not publicly announced this.
