Global taxi app alliance will test faith in Uber

Didi Kuaidi has already invested in Lyft, GrabTaxi and Ola in recent months. Each country will handle mapping, routing and payments through a secure API. Uber is profitable in more than 80 cities around the world, and the number of USA trips completed this year has increased 250 percent compared with the same period last year, people familiar with the matter said. Lyft said last month that it has gained market share in key markets, such as San Francisco, and has a gross revenue “run rate” of $1bn.

The same applies to users of Ola, GrabTaxi and Didi Kuaidi, who will be able to access Lyft services through their company’s app and pay in their native currencies. The partnership ensures that passengers can book a ride in any of the above mentioned services using just one app. While this move was hailed revolutionary and the assumption that it might be successful in bringing down Uber was widely publicized, a reliable industry source had something completely different to tell Business Insider.

GrabTaxi is the leading ride-hailing platform in Southeast Asia with 95 percent market share in third-party taxi-hailing and more than 50 percent market share in private cars.

GrabTaxi in Southeast Asia records 1.5 million daily bookings across six countries. Ola has a presence in 102 Indian cities, while Didi’s platform provides 7 million rides per day across 360 Chinese cities. This bit of information becomes all the more crucial as Tiger Global is not only one of Ola’s biggest investors, but it has previously also invested in other ride-hailing apps such as China’s Didi Kuadi and Singapore’s GrabTaxi.

Lyft, on the other hand, is reportedly seeking another $500 million in funding, which would value the company at $4 billion.

Zimmer called the alliance an opportunity to make “global travel simpler”, in the announcement Thursday.

Lyft’s approach, meanwhile, involves partnering with local incumbents, allowing it to leverage their technology and workforce.

The pact will allow users of these ridesharing apps to seamlessly travel across India, China, the USA and Southeast Asia.

Tan said this will solve major transportation challenges for the long-term.

“This will also allow all four companies to learn from each other’s local innovations and successes that can help in the shared mission to build better mobility solutions in the respective markets”, he added.

About Lyft Lyft was founded in June 2012 by Logan Green and John Zimmer to reconnect people and communities through better transportation.

While Lyft is now in over 150 USA cities, it doesn’t have offices outside of the United States yet.