Sophie Schmidt’s Post

💚 Founded in 2012 by Mudassir Sheikha, Magnus Olsson, and Abdullah Elyas, Careem is a ride-hailing service that became a major competitor to Uber in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia.  It started operating as a website-based service for corporate car bookings, and evolved to become a ridesharing company with car hire for everyday use. The company’s focus on localized services and understanding regional needs played a key role in its success. Careem is led by a powerful purpose to simplify and improve the lives of people making it easier than ever to move around, order food and groceries, manage payments, and more. Since 2012, Careem has created earnings for over 2.5 million Captains, simplified the lives of over 50 million customers, and built a platform for the region’s best talent to thrive and for entrepreneurs to scale their businesses. In 2019, Uber acquired Careem for $3.1 billion. Today Careem operates in over 70 cities across 10 countries, from Morocco to Pakistan. Inspiring, isn't it?

Salestorrs, someone is arm twisting the ride hailing giants to lower their driver commissions. And they are bending to their will. The winner in this game appears to be the new ride hailing startups who are slowly nibbling on Uber and Ola's market share. Competition from new startups is forcing established ride hailing companies to lower their commission structures for drivers. Rapido bike taxi, backed by Swiggy, scrapped its commission model to introduce a subscription fee for cab and auto drivers. This amounts to ₹9-29 per day. California-headquartered inDrive charges a 10-12% commission, less than half that of Uber and Ola’s 25-30% fee. Namma Yatri, backed by Open Network For Digital Commerce (ONDC), offers its Software as a Service (SaaS) to auto drivers for ₹25 per day or ₹3.5 per trip for up to ten rides and free of cost afterwards. This works as a loyalty programme and lures drivers to spend more time on the app to get more rides and an ROI on the daily fees. But Uber responded with a Pro programme aimed at alluring drivers. And it worked! Find out more in today's #SalestorrsNews150, news in 150 words. #ondc #ridehailing #taxiservice #cabservice #uber #ola #rapido BluSmart #blusmart https://lnkd.in/gCtUSDkK

𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐎𝐥𝐚 𝐂𝐚𝐛𝐬, 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐚'𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐞-𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦, 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭? 😎 The founders, Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, initially called their 𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 "𝐌𝐮𝐟𝐭 𝐂𝐚𝐛𝐬" – 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 "𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐛𝐬" 𝐢𝐧 𝐇𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢! 🤯 But they soon realized the unsustainable nature of that business model and rebranded it to the catchy name we all know today – 𝐎𝐥𝐚. 🚕 #OlaCabs #StartupStories What's even more fascinating is that Ola's founders bootstrapped the company's initial operations by renting cabs themselves and personally providing services to customers. 💪 Talk about hands-on entrepreneurship! To differentiate themselves from competitors like Uber, Ola introduced unique offerings like 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐨-𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐰 𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬, 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐬, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 "𝐎𝐥𝐚 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞" 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐞-𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠. 🚗 These innovative strategies, combined with a localized approach like regional language support and cash payment options, played a crucial role in Ola's rapid growth and dominance in the Indian ride-hailing market. 🔄𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 to spread awareness about Ola's entrepreneurial journey. 💬𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 in the comments below. 📊 𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐦𝐞 for more fun facts and entrepreneurial stories!👇 #InnovativeStartup #LocalizationMatters #Ola #BhavishAggarwal

Something that OYO did right but Stayzilla couldn't? Stayzilla was one of India's pioneering homestay networks, founded by Yogendra Vasupal in 2005. Initially named Inasra Technologies, the company rebranded to Stayzilla in 2010, aiming to expand its presence across all districts in India. Offering a platform for homestays, alternative stays, and hotels, Stayzilla was an early version of Airbnb in India, growing to over 15,000 stays in 1,100 cities and reaching 500 bookings a day by 2013. But why did Stayzilla shut down? -> First Mover Challenges: Being the first in the market meant Stayzilla had to invest heavily in educating customers. Many people were unfamiliar with the concept of homestays and didn’t know how to use the internet. This slowed down their growth. -> High Operational Costs: As competitors entered the market, they offered frequent discounts to attract customers. Stayzilla, already burdened with high operating costs, struggled to keep up and was losing money every year. -> Loss of Focus: The CEO admitted that the company lost sight of its original mission. This lack of clarity added to their operational difficulties. Despite these challenges, the CEO hasn't declared the company officially closed. Instead, he sees this as a pause to regroup, regain clarity, and return with an improved service and a clean slate. Stayzilla’s journey is a reminder that while innovation is crucial, maintaining focus and managing costs are equally important. #Entrepreneurship #StartupLessons #Homestays #India #BusinessStrategy #Innovation #MarketEducation #Sustainability #MarketResearch

Within the French startup scene, BlaBlaCar is a well-known brand. It's difficult to even call the #carpooling and bus ticketing firm a startup anymore because of how long it has been in operation. However, BlaBlaCar's distinct trajectory makes it a very fascinating firm today. An online hitchhiking community with humble beginnings turned into a unicorn-status firm that #garnered hundreds of millions of dollars. This will provide it with fresh capital to #strategize for the future and maintain its development trajectory, which may involve acquisitions. Co-founder and CEO Nicolas Brusson told, "Debt is a tool that's relatively attractive, non-dilutive, and super flexible too." The €100 million credit line is held by many major French, British, and American institutions. BlaBlaCar is not a publicly traded firm, but it is gradually coming to terms with the idea that it may #disclose some numbers to the public. In this manner, BlaBlaCar will be able to publicly declare for the first time that it has achieved profitability actually, it has done so since April 2022. The achievement must be greatly relieving, as 2023 has been difficult for French #startups well, unless you work on items related to artificial intelligence, of course. However, as of Q2 2022, we have turned a profit. Our income then skyrocketed to nearly €250 million in 2023. Thus, even though our top line growth is little less than30%, we are still profitable. To others, the term "profitable" might indicate several things. Numerous businesses want to assert their #profitability despite the fact that they are referring to EBITDA, a financial indicator that ignores the expenses related to their assets. Furthermore, Brusson has grown a little weary of businesses that feign profitability while perpetually losing money. It's rather tiny now, accounting for less than 5% of total income. Although it is totally #segregated and run autonomously, it is nonetheless a member of the organization. Even if you choose not to use BlaBlaCar to reserve your next train ticket, the business is testing last-mile carpooling as well. For somewhat shorter distances, we have an #alternative model in that scenario. In areas outside of Europe, bus travel has the most potential. The bus sector is still #highly fragmented and offline, which is fantastic news for us in these areas, according to Brusson. He brought up the fact that bus tickets cost billions of dollars in Brazil and India, indicating that there is still potential for BlaBlaCar to expand. www.tycoonstory.com #BlaBlaCar #ProfitableStartup #Carpooling #BusTicketing #Acquisitions #FrenchTech #EmergingMarkets #PublicTransport #LastMileMobility #SustainableTravel BlaBlaCar Pierre-Jean Hillion Tony Demol Nour Elislam SAIDI Ihor Martyniuk Roman Miroshnichenko Himanshu Arora Ankit Joshi Prabhat Pavecha Nikhil Sethi

Ola launched in 2010. Uber entered the Indian market in 2013. Rapido began offering cab services in 2023. While Ola and Uber charge upwards of 25% of cab fares as commissions, leading to higher fares for passengers and lower earnings for drivers, Rapido has introduced a subscription-based model. Drivers recharge ₹500 to earn approximately ₹10,000 in fares, effectively reducing commissions to around 5%. Although the sustainability of this subscription model remains to be seen, drivers are starting to switch from Uber and Ola to Rapido, and passengers may follow suit. Key takeaways: - Being the first mover isn’t always an advantage. - Online marketplaces rarely foster brand loyalty. #MarketplaceTrends #Innovation #SubscriptionEconomy #MarketingLessons #BrandLoyalty #Startups #BusinessInsights

Exciting news from the ride-hailing industry! 🚀 Rapido, the popular ride-hailing startup, is revolutionizing the sector with its latest move. The company has extended its software-as-a-service (SaaS)-based zero commission model to auto drivers, empowering them with greater control over their earnings. Under this model, Rapido relinquishes its role in deciding the price point, ensuring transparency and inclusivity for all stakeholders involved. This shift marks a significant departure from the traditional aggregator-commission-led model, demonstrating Rapido's commitment to fostering a fair and sustainable ecosystem. The company will charge auto drivers a nominal daily fee ranging from INR 9 to INR 29, providing them with access to the platform's services while eliminating the burden of high commission rates. With this innovative approach, Rapido aims to empower auto drivers and create a more equitable marketplace for all. This move reflects Rapido's dedication to driving positive change within the ride-hailing industry. Founded in 2015 by Aravind Sanka, Pavan Guntupalli and Rishikesh SR, the company operates in over 100 cities across the country. 🚦 #Rapido #RideHailing #ZeroCommission #Empowerment #Innovation #FairEcosystem 🌐

. ixigo's IPO is interesting. Their DRHP, a document that helps potential investors study the company, has everything that it is trying to grab the Bharat Rail story - here’s the complete breakdown on 3 things ⬇️ 3.3 Crore Indians use trains every single day to commute, a number that is more prevalent when it comes to long-haul train travel - Classic for a developing country where air travel is still unaffordable for most. What is the “Bharat opportunity”? 🇮🇳 [ 1 ] The Indian railway full-stack story 🚂 Booking trains on Ixigo is a huge user friendly experience. I have personally used it to book the Rani Channama Express a couple of times in the last few years. No wonder Ixigo built an app just around train bookings. But, Indian railways doesn’t allow for surge pricing nor allows Ixigo to take higher commissions than the ₹20 to ₹35 per booking. In FY 2022-23, over 77 Crore e-tickets were sold for ₹54,313 Crores. Ixigo sold around ~14 Crore e-tickets of them & made ~ ₹284 Cr in direct commissions. This does have a ceiling to grow. + The first play on railway cross-sell is food 🍔 Something that Ixigo hasn’t solved for. It doesn’t need to be the food delivery player but just a pure UI layer to order from every single delivery place that can deliver it on specific train stations. + Another railway play is OTT monetisation 🎬 Longer train journeys mean more content consumption on smartphones. A native integration to play content right within the Ixigo app and do content syndication. [ 2 ] The electric bus opportunity 🚎 Ixigo invested Rs 26 crore (around $3.1 million) in Bengaluru-based electric bus startup FreshBus for the launch of inter-city electric bus services across India. Interestingly, Ixigo took a > 40% shareholding in the company which is interesting for a marketplace company like Ixigo. The advantage here isn’t that the Ixigo backed Freshbus can only do this EV play, but other bus operators will have to move away from the capital they invested in diesel vehicles they have or have bought in the recent time. The Freshbus advantage is that they don’t have the luggage of a diesel fleet & can move faster on EV. [ 3 ] The budget train/bus traveler hotels 🏨 How you and I travel isn’t how the Bharat audience travels - especially when they are traveling solo. These travelers will always land up in the destination city by bus/ train and figure out the stay for the night. This segment has a different willingness to pay - Ixigo's current positioning on hotel supply could be this & again its a volume game but something Ixigo has a right to win on. [ Bonus ] The B2B flight play. It’s the Make My Trip Business play - helping companies manage their employee travel - especially flights. Something that Ixigo didn’t prioritize a lot because of its clear focus on the Bharat audience. But, this could be another play in this decade for the brand. That’s all for now. Read deeper insights in our newsletter. Link in the comments below.

Namma Yatri, under the 'Yatri' brand, has launched zero-commission cab services in Delhi NCR, intensifying competition with industry giants Uber and Ola. The platform, part of Moving Tech Innovations founded by Shan M S and Magizhan Selvan, will not charge subscription fees or commissions for its electric auto rickshaws and cabs until March 2026. This initiative is a part of Namma Yatri’s suite of mobility apps, including Yatri, Mana Yatri, and Yatri Sathi, which operate on the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC). Moving Tech, which recently raised $11 million from Blume Ventures and Antler, is known for its subscription model in the ride-hailing industry, competing with rivals like Ola Cabs, Uber, and Rapido. #NammaYatri #Yatri #ZeroCommission #RideHailing #DelhiNCR #ShanMS #MagizhanSelvan #MovingTech #ONDC #BlumeVentures #Antler #UberVsOla #startup77

The Unicorn extinction? The Madrid-based ride-hailing app Cabify reported that: - losses increased 14x to €4.9m in 2022 in the Spanish market, in comparison to €346k the previous year.  - revenues of €199.5m in 2022 in Spain — 27.5% more than in 2021. - investment boost in the Spanish market in measures to incentivise demand, including in marketing and tools to improve the offer of vehicles. The company, which operates in Spain and Latin America, had reportedly been planning to float on the stock market this year. Will see if the plan will be confirmed. #startup #scaleup #unicorn Mind the Bridge