ride-hailing | Pixr8 News

18Jan By Ankita SinghNo Comments

ACQUISITION

Grab Announces Acquisition of Bangalore Based Payments Startup

Grab, the leading on-demand transportation and mobile payments platform in Southeast Asia, today announced it has acquired Bangalore-based payments startup iKaaz. The rich functionality of iKaaz’ mobile payments platform and its experienced leadership team will accelerate feature development and partner integration of GrabPay, Grab’s payments platform. Already Southeast Asia’s #1 ride-hailing platform, Grab is expanding across all markets in Southeast Asia in 2018 with the goal of becoming the region’s universal payments platform. Launched in 2014, iKaaz’ technology was built to work in India’s challenging internet conditions and enable effortless and fast payments for thousands of merchants. ikaaz’ technology stack encompasses a range of innovations, such as NFC, QR-code, audio-based p...

30Jun By AnkitaNo Comments

News

Milestone- Uber Crosses 5 Billion Trips

Global leading Taxi aggregator platform Uber said that the ride-hailing services had completed 5 billion trips on thursday. The news comes after a string of setbacks for the privately held firm, including the resignation of Chief Executive Travis Kalanick last week and firing of the technology whiz it had hired to lead its self-driving unit, Anthony Levandowski, after he failed to comply with a court order to hand over documents at the centre of a legal dispute between Uber and Alphabet Inc’s Waymo unit. Founded in 2010, Uber said 156 trips started at the same time, helping the company cross the milestone. Uber, which has been rocked by several high-level executive departures in the past few months as it grapples with a series of controversies, has been also looking for a chief op...

Ola, Uber Rides Could Get Cheaper Under India’s GST Bill

20May By RishabhNo Comments

News

Ola, Uber Rides Could Get Cheaper Under India’s GST Bill

Cab rides could get marginally cheaper for customers from July 1 as the incidence of tax will come down to five per cent for bookings made on cab aggregators like Ola and Uber. Currently, a tax of six per cent is levied on rides booked through cab aggregators. "Such reduction is a welcome move for cab aggregators and consumers considering the increased demand of services of cab aggregators," Deloitte Haskins & Sells Senior Director Saloni Roy said. It shall accordingly provide a further boost to the already thriving operations of cab aggregators, she added. The introduction of services by cab aggregators has seen manifold growth due to the ease and reasonableness of prices at which the services are offered. "The GST rate on cab aggregators is proposed to be at 5 per cent...

12May By reutersNo Comments

FUNDING

SoftBank Investing $5 Billion in China Ride Hailing Firm Didi Chuxing

SoftBank Group Corp said it has agreed to invest $5 billion in China's Didi Chuxing, confirming it led a recent fund-raising round by the ride-hailing firm that sources said valued Didi at more than $50 billion. Didi said last month it raised more than $5.5 billion to expand its business overseas and develop artificial intelligence technology. Sources had said investors included SoftBank. A SoftBank spokesman said on Friday the investment was related to Didi's last fund-raising round. SoftBank is trying to transform itself into the "Berkshire Hathaway of the tech industry" with the launch soon of a $100 billion technology fund as telecoms services markets mature. It has already announced plans to invest at least $25 billion over the next five years in the fund, which would be o...

Uber to Suspend its Ride-Hailing Service in Taiwan From Feb 10

2Feb By reutersNo Comments

News

Uber to Suspend its Ride-Hailing Service in Taiwan From Feb 10

Uber Technologies Inc said it will suspend its service in Taiwan from February 10, the latest salvo in the wrangle between the island's authorities and the global ride-hailing service company. Late last year, Taiwan's legislature finalised regulations raising fines against unlicensed ride-sharing services, targeted at Uber, which said at the time that was the highest level for such fines globally. "Today, we are announcing our intention to pause our Taiwan service starting Friday 10th February. We hope that pressing pause will reset the conversation and inspire President Tsai (Ing-wen) to take action," Uber said in a statement on its website. The statement did not specify what action Uber wanted the president to take.

Ola, Uber Welcomed Indian Government Decision on Regulating The Taxi Industry

22Dec By NitishNo Comments

News

Ola, Uber Welcomed Indian Government Decision on Regulating The Taxi Industry

Leading ride-hailing firms have praised an Indian policy blueprint on regulating the taxi industry, saying it would offer their app-based services a chance to flourish despite their concerns about price caps. A committee set up by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways recently published its findings, stating that India needed one regulatory framework for the taxi industry to promote mobility and discourage car ownership. It also said that aggregators, such as Uber, Ola and Meru, should be included under a "fair, uniform and transparent" regulatory framework, along with radio taxis and traditional city taxis. The report's recommendations came against a backdrop of battles with city authorities on issues such as dynamic, or "surge", pricing that the ride hailing firms say they ne...

Uber Enter Into Billion Dollar Market “Indian Weddings”, Launched UberWEDDINGS in 12 Cities

22Nov By NitishNo Comments

News

Uber Enter Into Billion Dollar Market “Indian Weddings”, Launched UberWEDDINGS in 12 Cities

Taxi-hailing app Uber has partnered WedMeGood, a wedding planning website, to offer mobility solutions for wedding-related travel called UberWEDDINGS in 12 Indian cities. UberWEDDINGS will be live till February 2017 and will provide convenient, hassle-free and cashless mobility solution to users in New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Pune, Udaipur and Lucknow, Uber India said in a statement. Apart from India, Uber offers UberWEDDINGS in Washington DC, San Francisco, New York, Boston and LA as well. "Weddings in India are typically an elaborate affair, often spanning month-long planning and week-long celebrations involving family and friends. While we all enjoy the fun and celebration, they also bring in the logistical challen...

Doubts Surrounding Over Investors Backing Both Uber and Didi in China

17Jun By AnkitaNo Comments

News

Doubts Surrounding Over Investors Backing Both Uber and Didi in China

Ride-hailing companies Uber and Didi have brought many new dimensions to the startup industry, such as making billion-dollar-plus funding rounds routine. Now, they have added another to the list: sharing big investors who are backing both companies, even though they are fierce rivals. Uber, the leading ride service in the United States and much of the world, and Didi Chuxing, which claims 87 percent of the Chinese market for private vehicle ride-hailing, now share at least four investors: asset manager BlackRock, Chinese investment manager Hillhouse Capital Group, hedge fund Tiger Global and insurer China Life, according to investment records and sources familiar with the deals. "It's very unusual to allow the same parties to invest and get information rights of sworn mortal enemies. ...

13May By reutersNo Comments

FUNDING

Apple Invests $1 Billion in Chinese Ride-Hailing Service Didi Chuxing

Apple Inc said on Thursday it has invested $1 billion in Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing, a move that Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said would help the company better understand the critical Chinese market. The tech giant's rare investment gives it a stake in two burgeoning waves of technology - the sharing economy and car technology - as the iPhone business that propelled it to record profitability shows signs of maturing. Apple is trying to reinvigorate sales in China, where it has come under greater pressure from regulators, and Cook is traveling to the country this month. The move aligns Apple with Uber Technologies Inc's chief rival in China, as automakers and technology companies forge new alliances and make cross investments. General Motors, for example, recently...