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Taxi Industry
hottest sector for investors.
Leaving office late night has become a common routine for working class people. During such peak
times hiring a taxi can become a hectic task. Thanks to newly booming taxi industry getting a cab is
just a matter of one call or one click in your mobile app. Taxi industry is one of the most buzzing
industries.
This taxi industry is of two types:
1. Radio taxi company
A radio taxi company offers a reliable metered taxi service to the commuters. They themselves own
cars and hire drivers to run them. These cars are equipped with GPS based communication
technology. The cabs can be pre-booked by a phone call, through a website or by using its mobile
app. Meruin India, Yellow Cab in US, and Silver Top Taxi in Australia are some of the Radio Taxi
companies.
2. Taxi aggregators
Tax aggregators are the ones who help you to find a cab. These taxi aggregators are more
customers centric. They help users to find safe, reliable, and comfortable taxi rides anywhere and
anytime. An app connects drivers with the users. They are mainly called as transport Network
Company. It has become one of the hottest sectors for investors.

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Ride-sharing network
This is a relatively a new concept. It enables a user to share the transport. This model facilitates
peer-to-peerridesharing by enabling passengers who need a ride to request one from available
"community drivers".
 Noteworthy Uber
Uber is a app-based transport Network company. App is used to get a request from the
customer. The company sends this trip request to their drivers. Customers use the app to
request rides and track their reserved vehicle location. When you call for a service through the
app, it reaches customers within 5-10 minutes and the cost is deducted from credit card
including the tips for the driver.
Uber is headquartered in San Francisco, California. They have their services available in 53 countries
and more than 200 citiesworldwide. They offer services only for full-sizedluxurycars to hire.
Business Model:
 Funding
The company was founded by entrepreneurs Garrett Camp,Travis Kalanick and Oscar Salazar. They
hired Ryan Graves on as CEO. Graves later stepped down from the post to become VP of
operations. Travis Kalanik replaced him and become the new CEO.
In 2010 Uber raised $1.25 millionfrom well-knowninvestors — including “super angel” Chris Sacca.
In 2011, they raised more than $11.5M in funding led by Benchmark Capital. During that year they
also started providing food delivery and helicopter and motorcycle rides for selected cities. Lately
that year they raised an additional $32 millionin funding from several investors, including Goldman

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Sachs, Menlo Ventures, and Bezos Expeditions, bringing its total funding amount to $49.5 million.In
2013, they receiveda fresh cash of $258 billionfrom Google Ventures.
 Uber Garage
Uber debuted with their own version of Google Labs, called Uber Garage, a workshop where the
company will experimentwith new ideas for urban transportation. The first project launched in
Taxis in Chicago, where users were able to see participating taxis, as well as black cars, on their
mobile apps as a transportation option. This is the first time Uber has experimentedusing different
car types with lower price points.
 UberX Program
In spite of being convenient service providers, only hurdle for their expansion was –cost. As a
consequence in 2012, they expanded their business by launching ‘UberX’ program which enable any
qualifieddriver to become part of it with an acceptable vehicle. They focused on this UberX services
which were more available and affordable. From its home market they lowered its price by 25%.
They loweredtheir fares by 20%-25% in each of their market.
As of 16 December 2014, Uber is valued at more than US$40 billion. After Uber’s success several
other companies emulated followingits business model popularly referred as ‘Uberification’.
Controversies
 In January 2014, a lawsuit has been filed on Uber in San Francisco for wrongful death of 6yr
old girl. The suit claims Uber is responsible for the death because the driver was on Uber's
app at the time of the crash. However, the company justified themselves by saying that the
driver was not providing service at the time of the accident, means there was no passenger
in the car.
 In December 2014, a suit filed by a group of 45 Philadelphia taxi companies against Uber
about operating in the state illegally.

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 The authorities in Delhi (India) banned Uber from operating in the Indian capital after one of
its drivers accuse over the alleged rape. Officials in Delhi accused the company of misleading
customers and not having proper licenses for the service it offered.
 Recently China also banned private cars from taking part in ride-hailing app. They allowed
only licensed taxis to use the app. Uber is also facing legal challenges in South Korea,
Europe, California, and other markets for employing drivers who lack taxi licenses.
Following these loop-holes left behind by Uber in the taxi industry, many competitors came in the
business. Many local taxi businesses come into picture and started growing huge.
Lyft is a San-Francisco based ride-sharing startup who is a tough competitor of Uber. It’s again an
app based service. Lyft was launched in 2012 and is a product of its parent company Zimride. The
company's mobile-phone application facilitates peer-to-peer ridesharing by connecting passengers
who need a ride to drivers who have a car. It facilities more than 30,000 rides per week. Because of
its growing popularity it attracted significant attention from investors. It Raises $250 Million in 2014
From Coatue, Alibaba and Third Point To Expand Internationally. Likewise Olacabs comes into
Indian business market. It co-founded by IIT-Bombay students and this business is surveys as the
‘Best Startup in India’ by Economics times in December 2014.
 Next wave of Disruption
Instant messaging industry is already earning big all-around the world. Taking advantages of
this, the owners of here started exploring the potential of taxi industry. They started investing
into industry, as they saw it as an opportunity of converting their messaging users into taxi
riding customers. Line-top chat app of japan launched its own taxi services recently. The
company partnered with Nihon Kotsu, Japan’s top private car firm, to offer an initial 3,300 plus
cars in selected parts of Tokyo, but it plans to ramp up to 23,000 nationwide over time. Last
year, China’s top chat app WeChat’s parent company Tencent Holdings Ltd. tied up with taxi

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on-demand service Didi Dache. South Korea’s Kakao Talk also launched a car-calling app called
‘Kakao taxi’. The service will be available by the end of the march.
An instant messaging app launching its own taxi service is something unique, though has gained a
lot of trend in the business. CrossProf.com is created keeping these entrepreneurs especially in
mind. Here we help out entrepreneurs to start a business with great ideas. Explore a world of
unlimited possibilities and go global with CrossProf.
Reference:
 https://web.archive.org/web/20141216163843/https://www.uber.com/cities
 "Where is Uber Currently Available?".www.uber.com. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
 ^ Jump up to:a b Douglas MacMillan (5 December 2014). "Uber’s Investor Club Adds
Two Hedge Funds, Qatar’s Sovereign Wealth Fund". The Wall Street Journal.
Retrieved 5 December2014.
 Jump up^ "Apple Pay's Real KillerApp: The Uber-ification of Local
Services". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2015-01-05
 http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/03/in-another-strike-against-the-competition-uber-
lowers-uberx-prices-in-san-diego-la-and-dc/
 http://techcrunch.com/2010/12/22/uber-ceo-super-pumped-about-being-replaced-
by-founder/
 http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/10/16/idUS353559469920101016
 http://blog.launch.co/blog/exclusive-uber-ceo-lays-out-road-map-helicopters-
motorcycles.html
 http://www.cnet.com/news/car-service-uber-raises-32-million-launches-in-paris/
 http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/18/uber-experiments-with-lower-priced-taxis-in-
chicago-through-newly-launched-labs-group-garage/
 http://abc7news.com/archive/9408512/
 http://articles.philly.com/2014-12-26/business/57398500_1_taxi-medallion-travis-
kalanick-uberx

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 http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/15/delhi-woman-alleged-rape-uber-
driver-sue-us
 http://www.zdnet.com/article/china-bans-private-cars-using-uber/
 http://venturebeat.com/2013/05/23/lyft-races-ahead-with-60m-in-funding-but-
what-challenges-lie-ahead/
 http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/02/lyft-250m/
 http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-12-
26/news/57420490_1_bhavish-aggarwal-startup-industry-booming-startup-secto
 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-08/tencent-invests-in-china-cab-
booking-app-to-tap-mobile-web-users.html
