Sunday, December 22

Tag: cab hailing services

Looking For An Uber? Book It Through Snapchat’s ‘Context Cards’
News

Looking For An Uber? Book It Through Snapchat’s ‘Context Cards’

Snap Inc’s Snapchat on Tuesday introduced “context cards”, a new feature that will allow users to book an Uber ride or reserve a seat at a restaurant without leaving the messaging app. The new feature is aimed at increasing the time a user spends on the app by providing contextual location-based search, potentially helping the company to get more advertising dollars. Snapchat, popular with young people for applying bunny faces or other filters to their pictures, competes for ad dollars with the likes of Facebook Inc’s Instagram. The new cards allow users viewing stories to swipe up and get relevant information about a business such as reviews, directions or contact information, the company said in a blog post. RELATED Snapchat Removes Al Jazeera Channel In Saudi Arabia ...
Uber’s Rival Grab Set To Dominate In Southeast After Largest  Ever Fundraising
FUNDING

Uber’s Rival Grab Set To Dominate In Southeast After Largest Ever Fundraising

The Singapore-based ride-hailing service is getting $2 billion worth of investment from China-based ride-hail player Didi Chuxing and Softbank. The startup also expects to raise an additional $500 million from other investors as part of this round. Provided it closes the additional sum, the company’s valuation would top $6 billion, according to a source familiar with Grab’s fundraising. The $2.5 billion round is reportedly the largest ever single financing round in Southeast Asia and demonstrates just how ferociously the powers that be are battling for ride-hailing dominance in that part of the world. The Singapore-headquartered company says it has a Southeast Asia market share of 95 percent in third-party taxi-hailing and 71 percent in private vehicle hailing. It also provides car...