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Zomato vs Swiggy- The Much Heated ‘Unicorn’ Battle over $2.5 Bn Worth Foodtech Industry

20Jun By Lavina TolaniNo Comments

ANALYSIS

Zomato vs Swiggy- The Much Heated ‘Unicorn’ Battle over $2.5 Bn Worth Foodtech Industry

It's just been three months when Food Delivery Platform Zomato raised $200 Mn from Ant Financials and now it is gearing to raise fresh $200 Mn from Alibaba. Interestingly, Zomato's arch-rival Swiggy is too nearing to acquire unicorn status as it is reportedly raising $200 million from Yuri Milner’s DST Global. While Swiggy has declined to reveal any information regarding its proposed funding, Zomato too has chosen to remain tightlipped. However, one thing is confirmed that with players eyeing a big chunk of the pie, the Indian food tech industry is surely going to witness a heated battle in the times ahead. This year has been really eventful for food tech where in March, Swiggy raised $100 million from Naspers, while Zomato raised $200 million from Ant Financials in February. Whil...

Uber Dignifies Pradeep Parameswaran As The President Of India & South Asia

19Jun By Gauri SinghNo Comments

News

Uber Dignifies Pradeep Parameswaran As The President Of India & South Asia

The popular taxi cab company Uber Technologies Inc. has announced the elevation of Pradeep Parameswaran as the new President of India and South Asia with immediate effect. The new President has replaced Amit Jain who was appointed as a head in the entire Asia Pacific region for Uber in May this year. Jain is a key member of Uber’s regional leadership team and welcomes Parameswaran gracefully. Over the last year and a half, he has been helpful in company’s growth by establishing the region firmly as a crucial contributor to our global vision. "I'm delighted to announce Pradeep Parameswaran will succeed me as the President of Uber India and South Asia, effective immediately. As a key member of Uber's regional leadership team, Pradeep will be responsible for leading the Rides operation to...

Uber India Set to Activate Its Uber Lite App Across The Globe

13Jun By Gauri SinghNo Comments

News

Uber India Set to Activate Its Uber Lite App Across The Globe

With the increasing growth and competition among the taxi cab services online, Uber in India has introduced its less data consuming app known as ‘Uber Lite’. The app has been made in India but can be used by any Uber user across the globe. The app launches first in India and then in other parts of the world. The regular Uber app is 181.4MB in size whereas Uber Lite app is less than 5 MB. ‘Uber Lite’ is basically the compact version of Uber app. The smaller app saves space as well as the data consumption is also low. Besides, the app also functions well in low connectivity areas. The announcement of the newly built app was made in New Delhi at the Uber’s Tech Day 2.0 on Tuesday. #UberLite is arriving soon: Peter Deng (Head of Rider Product) and Manik Gupta (VP & Head of ...

Ola Set to Beat Uber, Reports 70% Growth in Revenue

7Jun By Lavina TolaniNo Comments

BUSINESS

Ola Set to Beat Uber, Reports 70% Growth in Revenue

India's leading cab-hailing company Ola, run by ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd. has reported a phenomenal 70% jump in revenue in the year that ended 31 March 2017 as reported in its latest annual regulatory filings. As per the filings under the ministry of corporate affairs, Ola has recorded a revenue of Rs. 1,286 crore in 2016-17 when compared to Rs. 758.23 crore in the previous year. Ola is battling competition against San Francisco based cab hailing giant Uber which has expanded rapidly in India since it first launched its service in the country nearly five years ago. The interesting part is that both these companies e backed by Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group Corp. The latest numbers are indicative of the fact that Ola has managed to hold its worth against Uber in India over pa...

Karnataka Government Issues Violation Notice To Uber,Ola

4Jun By Lavina TolaniNo Comments

News

Karnataka Government Issues Violation Notice To Uber,Ola

A new tussle between Karnataka government and major cab aggregators Ola and Uber have come into play, where the state government has issued a notice to the ride-hailing companies for violating against rules for charging the time-based fare. As per new traffic rules stated under Rule 11(a) of the Karnataka On-demand Transportation Technology Aggregators, cab companies cannot charge on the basis of time and hence the notice has been issued to the companies seeking an explanation for their policy of charging based on an average of Rs 1 per minute. According to a statement cited by sources, "Licence holders have to collect hire charges from passengers as per fares fixed by the government. But companies are violating the rules. Appropriate action will be initiated against the errant cabs....

Ola to Adopt Group Company Structure Like Flipkart

28May By Lavina TolaniNo Comments

BUSINESS

Ola to Adopt Group Company Structure Like Flipkart

Cab Riding Major Ola is set to walk along the footprints of India's most successful internet startup Flipkart as it is about to adopt a group holding company structure that would boost company's valuation and improve its business management. According to sources, Ola will set up a holding company consisting of different units that will include its core cab business, food delivery app Foodpanda and the inceptive business of electric vehicles along with the international unit. Each of the units will have their respective heads looking after business operations. The recent exit of company's COO Vishal Kaul has now put prominent names such as senior vice-presidents Saikiran Krishnamurthy and Pallav Singh on the tentative list of senior hierarchy under the new structure. People familia...

Bike Taxi Startup Rapido Acquires Hyderabad-based GetBike

23May By Sheldan RungasamyNo Comments

ACQUISITION

Bike Taxi Startup Rapido Acquires Hyderabad-based GetBike

Rapido, the Bangalore-based bike taxi startup, is in the final phase of finalizing an A&M deal with Hyderabad-based Vave Infosolutions India Pvt. Ltd, owner of motorcycle-sharing startup Getbike, according to a report from VCCircle. The deal will allow the bike taxi company, which is run by Roppen Transportation Services Pvt. Ltd, to enter the Hyderabad market by making use of GetBike’s resources and market presence. Shravya Reddy, who was previously associated with Reliance Communications Ltd and Apalya Technologies, founded Getbike – formerly called Getmi -- in September 2017. Getbike raised $100,000 as angel funding 3 months later from a couple of investors, namely, Vamshi Reddy B and Venu Veeramaneni. The startup began operations as a bike taxi operator catering both general ...

Ola To Expand Operations in 3 New Australian Cities

22May By Sheldan RungasamyNo Comments

News

Ola To Expand Operations in 3 New Australian Cities

Ola, the homegrown cab-hailing service is now expanding its operations in Australia to include the cities of Brisbane, Gold Coast and Canberra. “Customers in these cities can book discounted rides using Ola app starting Tuesday,” said the Bengaluru-based online cab aggregator in a statement. Ola was founded in 2011 by Bhavish Aggarwal and has been since competing against US cab-hailing firm Uber for market share. The cab-aggregator claims to own over 125 million users in 110 cities across India. Ola began operations in Australia in January 2018 with the cities of Perth, Sydney and Melbourne being the first to benefit from the Indian service. Up to now, 30,000 driver-partners are working under the ride-sharing service’s name, the statement added. “As we continue to expand across A...

Ola Chief Operation Officer Vishal Kaul Resigns

19May By Lavina TolaniNo Comments

News

Ola Chief Operation Officer Vishal Kaul Resigns

While yesterday we reported the departure of Jeff Holden from American cab hailing company uber, today's there is a news regarding exit of another senior official of rival cab company Ola. Ola's operation chief Vishal Kaul has resigned after serving the firm for one year and four months marking a latest senior level change in the cab riding firm. Confirming the development, Ola in a statement said, Ola would like to thank Vishal Kaul for his invaluable contributions to the company. He has had a very good inning. We at Ola wish him well for all his future endeavours. Kaul mentioned that he "is moving to pursue another exciting opportunity" and did not elaborate further. An alumnus of Symbiosis Centre for Management and HRD, Kaul joined Ola as operations chief in February 2017 suc...

Ola and Uber Drivers Begin a Hunger Strike

18May By Sheldan RungasamyNo Comments

News

Ola and Uber Drivers Begin a Hunger Strike

Ola and Uber, the two cab-hailing giant companies are facing tough times as their Rajasthani taxi drivers are conducting a hunger strike from today due to disagreements against the rates of commission charged by their companies that they deem too high. The drivers also conducted a strike last month that lasted nine days and ended only when the tech-firms agreed to meet some of the drivers’ demands and promised to look further in the matter of others. The drivers’ association also pressed both Ola and Uber to stop the fleet cars whereby a driver is provided a car by the company against minimal rates and a compulsory fee of Rs 1,100 daily to the firms. “The company is adding up new cars every day. The competition is tough and it is getting difficult to get work. Hence, we are demanding...

Uber to “Double Down” Investments in India after Leaving Southeast Asia

19Apr By Lavina TolaniNo Comments

News

Uber to “Double Down” Investments in India after Leaving Southeast Asia

San Fransisco based cab hailing company Uber said on Wednesday that it would be doubling up investment in India to take on the arch contender Ola. Uber's maiden COO Barney Hardford said that India has such a huge potential that the company would not settle for minority stake deals here.The world's most valued startup comments have come up amidst the speculations of a potential merger between its India unit and home built opponent Ola. Hardford said, India is absolutely a core market, now and in the future. Uber's success is hardcoded to India's success. Our merger with Grab Holdings in Southeast Asia has freed up resources for the company to channelize into this market. The company had set up a $1 billion investmnet in 2015 and also opened a support centre in Hyderabad with an inve...

After FoodPanda, Ola Wants to Acquire More Food Delivery Startups

10Apr By Sheldan RungasamyNo Comments

News

After FoodPanda, Ola Wants to Acquire More Food Delivery Startups

Ola is reportedly considering setting up an independent food-tech company after acquiring food ordering app Foodpanda in December and began negotiations to acquire additional private food firms. Ola has already held talks with Freshmenu officials and another firm operating in the same market segment, according to three anonymous sources close to Ola. As of yet, no definitive decision has been taken on the matter. Ola is also ready to raise the capital of Foodpanda later in the course of the year especially since food-tech competitors are raising huge sums of funding. The anonymous sources also revealed that Ola is adopting a strategy similar to that of Flipkart as they see the prospects of a vertical integration in the food-tech market. Ola generates revenues from several outlets ...