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Uber’s Technology Will Reduce Traffic Congestion In Indian Metro Cities

13Apr By Sheldan RungasamyNo Comments

News

Uber’s Technology Will Reduce Traffic Congestion In Indian Metro Cities

Uber, the US based cab hailing company, is taking the responsibility of helping civic authorities, traffic police, researches, think tanks and policymakers find ways of reducing traffic and congestion by applying big data and analytics to find patterns commuting habits and propose innovative plans meant to improve road infrastructure and traffic management decisions. Therefore, the cab aggregator Uber launched the second phase of ‘Movement’, a free tool destined to collect data from millions of trips and eventually assist urban planners in achieving sustainable development in road infrastructure and implement policies that would substantially improve commuting facilities in metro cities. Uber is taking a formal stand against traffic congestion with this initiative and shows its commi...

11Apr By Sheldan RungasamyNo Comments

News

Uber Developed New App For Its Drivers

Uber developed an app designed exclusively for its drivers that includes a tracker revealing their earnings in real-time as a renewed effort to show its commitment with the Indian market and display its goodwill to satisfy both its clients and employees. The new app comes after Uber’s ‘180 days of change’ program that was launched in June last year in a bid to reply to the diverse requests of Uber’s drivers, such as a tip system and compensation for time wasted in waiting for passengers. "While 180 Days was about correcting missteps of the past, we also needed to think longer term, and the obvious place to start was the Driver app," Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statement. The new app will include lots of useful and new features such as a status bar designed to f...

SoftBank Encouraging Uber to Merge Operations with Ola

29Mar By Sheldan RungasamyNo Comments

News

SoftBank Encouraging Uber to Merge Operations with Ola

Several news sources are reporting that Japanese giant investor SoftBank Group is putting pressure on Indian ride-hailing company Ola to merge with American rival Uber as part of a consolidation plan in India which represent the fastest growing market for ride hailing. SoftBank is currently the largest investor in both the companies and are reported to have been holding talks for over a year concerning the merge. The wish of Softbank to see the deal go through intensified after Uber decided to leave the ride-hailing market of Southeast Asia after admitting defeat to local competitor Grab last week. Reports suggest that the deal will be completed in the coming two months as both companies wish to have controlling stakes in the deal. This is the main reason why the deal is taking so long ...

Uber Sells its Southeast Asia Operations to Grab

26Mar By Sheldan RungasamyNo Comments

News

Uber Sells its Southeast Asia Operations to Grab

Ride-hailing company Uber Technologies Inc came to terms with bigger regional rival Grab to sell its Southeast Asian business operations, both firms said in a statement released today. The deal now puts pressure on Alphabet Inc’s Google and China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd who both support Indonesia’s Go-Jek. The deal between Uber and Grab is Southeast Asia’s first big consolidation. This region is now experiencing fierce competition in the ride-hailing industry after Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp’s Vision Fund invested over a billion dollar in Uber and Grab. As part of the deal, Uber will now hold 27.5 percent stake in the Singapore-based company and Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s CEO, is reportedly going to join Grab’s board. "It will help us double down on our plans for growth as we inves...

Uber Co-Founder Travis Kalanick Buys Out Firm and Becomes CEO

21Mar By Sheldan RungasamyNo Comments

ACQUISITION

Uber Co-Founder Travis Kalanick Buys Out Firm and Becomes CEO

After announcing a capital investment fund called ‘10100’ on May 7th intended for investment in startups, Travis Kalanick, former CEO of Uber Technologies sacked by his company in June last year is back on track in the entrepreneur world. My new gig... pic.twitter.com/vpD528cdyf — travis kalanick (@travisk) March 20, 2018 Kalanick announced today that he has acquired a real estate company called City Storage Systems for $150 million. His first action after acquiring the firm was to install himself as CEO. The investment represents approximately 10% of his total wealth. In January, Kalanick sold $1.4 billion worth of Uber shares to SoftBank Group Corp. City Storage Systems is a startup that focuses on redesigning troublesome real estate properties like parking lots or abandoned stri...

Travis Kalanick Launch 10100 Funds to Invest in Indian Startups

9Mar By Sheldan RungasamyNo Comments

News

Travis Kalanick Launch 10100 Funds to Invest in Indian Startups

Nine months after being ousted from one of the world’s most successful startups, Uber founder Travis Kalanick is back in business with a brand new project. Kalanick is now launching a 10100 fund from his personal fortune to invest in startups, “for-profit and not-for-profit work.” Kalanick has already started working on investing in startups by making several investments over the past few months and working with various company boards and engaging with entrepreneurs and non-profits. He made angel investments in startups such as software firm Pantheon, social media platform Blippy, online artwork community Deviant Art and medical startup Kareo. However, the interesting part is that Travis Kalanick is going to focus a large sum of his investments fund, named 10100 (pronounced ten-one-h...

Why Uber CEO is not Worried about its Losses?

16Feb By RishabhNo Comments

Entrepreneurs Talk

Why Uber CEO is not Worried about its Losses?

Speaking at a conference held in San Francisco on Monday, the cab aggregator giant Uber Technologies chief executive officer Dara Khosrowshahi said that "we can turn the knobs to get this business even on a full basis profitable." Uber's last year losses were $4.5 billion on net revenue of $7.5 billion, but this is the last thought that Uber CEO is worried about right now. He says,"(forcing the business to be profitable)would sacrifice growth and sacrifice innovation.” Dara said that it's Uber's commitment to "developing" markets that are dragging its business down, but he views that as an "optional investment". He however, thinks that it is the "right thing to do," indicating that company will not stop exploring options and investing in Asia. Ultimately, Uber's business is getting p...

Ola Shutting Down its Bus Unit ‘Shuttle’

7Feb By PriyankaNo Comments

News

Ola Shutting Down its Bus Unit ‘Shuttle’

Indian cab aggregator Ola has announced that it is shutting down its bus unit Ola Shuttle, as a part of a "re-balancing" of its mobility portfolio, reported Economic Times. Ola's Shuttle bus service will now be terminated in cities of Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata,Hyderabad and Chennai. The news is surprising as the SoftBank backed Ola on the other hand has raised massive amount of funding which could have sufficed if it wanted to keep the engine running. Ola is also focusing on global expansion, starting from Australia. Ola had sent notifications to their customers in the above stated cities, informing them that the Ola Shuttle services will no longer be available starting February 3. The drivers were instructed to return their smartphones, GPS Devices and cameras later by the week ...

Ola Now Plans To Expand To Australian Market

30Jan By Press Trust of IndiaNo Comments

News

Ola Now Plans To Expand To Australian Market

Indian cab aggregator Ola is set to go international with the launch of its operations in Australia in the coming weeks, a move that will further intensify its battle with US-based rival Uber. The SoftBank-backed firm is now onboarding private hire vehicle owners onto its platform in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, Ola said in a statement. Ola plans to launch its services in Australia in early 2018, it added. It will share further details of the commencement of commercial operations -- subject to necessary regulatory approvals -- later. "We are very excited about launching Ola in Australia and see immense potential for the ride-sharing ecosystem which embraces new technology and innovation," Ola co-founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said. He added that the company aims to "create...

Uber Limits Driver Hours in Britain to 10

17Jan By AdityaNo Comments

News

Uber Limits Driver Hours in Britain to 10

US ride-hailing app Uber today said it would cap the number of hours its drivers can work in Britain from next week in a bid to increase safety after heavy criticism of its business practices. The new policy means that drivers must take an uninterrupted six-hour break after 10 hours, and will not be able to log on to the app during that time. The company had already been messaging drivers who were working too long to switch off its app. "We believe this is an industry first and are not aware of any other private hire operator in the UK that has introduced such a limit," Uber said in a statement. "It's another example of how Uber uses technology to help enhance driver and passenger safety," Andrew Byrne, Uber's head of policy, was quoted as saying. Uber is currently appealing a...

Uber rival Didi Chuxing gets $4 bn from SoftBank, others for global expansion

21Dec By reutersNo Comments

FUNDING

Uber rival Didi Chuxing gets $4 bn from SoftBank, others for global expansion

Chinese ride-hailing service Didi Chuxing Technology Co has raised $4 billion in a new funding round, the firm said on Thursday, boosting its war chest as it looks to expand overseas and intensify a challenge to Uber Technologies Inc. The fundraising will help fuel the firm’s global expansion plans as well as help it develop its business into areas like artificial intelligence (AI), Didi said. The round values the firm at over $50 billion and pre-existing investor SoftBank Group Corp is a participant, a person familiar with the deal told Reuters. SoftBank did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “With a substantial cash reserve, Didi plans to scale up investments in AI talent and technologies,” Didi said in a statement. The funds would also help the firm “bring more ...

21Dec By reutersNo Comments

News

Uber Names Ex-Orbitz Executive As COO

Uber Technologies Inc on Wednesday named the former chief executive of Orbitz to be its chief operating officer, second-in-command to new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, who has been revamping the leadership team in hopes of turning around the ride provider and preparing for an IPO. Barney Harford, who was CEO of online travel service Orbitz Worldwide Inc, will join Uber on Jan. 2 and will be tasked with overseeing global ride-hailing operations, marketing, customer support and the food delivery business. A familiar face at Uber, he been an adviser since October, Khosrowshahi said in an email to employees. With Khosrowshahi flying to Europe and South America to address regulatory issues, Harford will have an important role in Uber’s day-to-day business. He must also help figure out how to...