It is a battle between the Spaniards, the Chinese, the Russians and the Colombians in which platform technology, price, service and security all play a role.
Mobility platforms are increasingly used in the country, arriving in 2012 with Tappsi, one of the most popular startups in the Apps.co program promoted by the Santos government to stimulate digital projects. A year later, Uber arrived with its platform that powers private cars. In these past 10 years, new cars like the DiDi or InDrive have arrived, been created as Taxis Libres, and others have left like the Beat.
The acceptance of these platforms is such that more than 8 million people use them in Colombia. The issue of safety has been one of the main attractions after a period of ‘million dollar rides’ in street taxis which are still on the minds of users and which unfortunately still happen. Platforms are increasingly improving their services in this regard, with codes to verify that you are entering the correct vehicle, sharing the route or location, GPS data that allows you to detect if there is a long or unexpected stop during the journey, and Emergency button.
Uber is still the big competitor, which is why behind the fight for riders using the platforms, there has also been a real legal battle to overcome hurdles that come up all the time.
Spanish Cabify is the platform with the largest number of users
Cabify is the app with the largest number of registered users, 2.5 million between Bogota, Barranquilla, Cali, Medellin, Bucaramanga and Cartagena. She arrived in Colombia with Tappsi at the end of 2013, a startup that ended up being absorbed by Brazil’s Easy Taxi, a company that was also operating in the country. Easy Taxi and Cabify They were linked in 2018 under the Spain-based Maxi Mobility brand, and the Easy Taxi brand disappeared, leaving only Cabify, which operates in several Latin American countries.
Cabify was founded in September 2012 with $3 million in seed funding, most of which was contributed by the founding team. Just under two years later, the company completed its second infusion of funds, this time when Seaya Ventures, the private equity fund of Beatriz González, the daughter of former BBVA chief Francisco González, led the investment with about US$5.5 million. The third round came at the end of 2015, when the Japanese technology giant Rakuten acquired 47%, and Beatriz Gonzalez acquired about 28% of the company. Cabify’s owners are preparing to go public next year at a valuation approaching $2 billion.
The Chinese are also taking tough steps
Chinese transportation app giant, DDdi Chuxing, arrived in the country in mid-2019 and is the dominant company in China with more than 90% of this massive market, but also operates in 15 other countries including South America, Japan and Australia. Russia and South Africa. In 2016, Didi absorbed Uber’s activities in the Chinese market through a stock exchange after a devastating two-year war.
Created in 2013 through the merger of two competing companies, DiDi Dache (backed by Tencent Holdings) and Alibaba Group’s Kuaidi Dache (one of the world’s largest e-commerce companies) quickly became the most popular platform in China.
DiDi attempted to list on the New York Stock Exchange in June 2021, a move that China’s Cyberspace Regulatory Authority did not like, which is why it launched an investigation that prevented it from registering new users in that country, causing many of its apps to be banned. Its downloads were blocked and it received a $1.2 billion fine. US dollar due to data security violations, in addition to being delisted from the New York Stock Exchange.
Didi’s main shareholder is Japan’s SoftBank Group with 21.5%, followed by Uber with 12.8% and Tencent with 6.8% (the Chinese multinational technology company, the world’s largest video game company).
Colombian taxis compete for their space
Taxis Libres, run by Stefania Hernandez, is betting on a digital transformation strategy that has paid off with nearly two million downloads of its app operating in Bogota, Cali, Medellin, Manizales, Bucaramanga and Cúcuta.
It was Cotech, the sister company of Taxis Libres dedicated to technology development, that filed the lawsuit with the Industry and Trade Regulatory Authority that took Uber off the streets for about two months at the beginning of 2020, which caused the platform to stop working. It will be closed to rental method for you to operate again.
The latest arrival is the Russian-American InDrive
InDrive, the app founded and run by Russian Arsene Tomsky, has quickly become one of the favourites. Its main feature is a real-time bidding system, where passengers and drivers can negotiate the price they consider appropriate for a particular trip.
The application was developed in Russia during 2012, and arrived in Colombia, specifically Cúcuta, in mid-2018. After the success recorded in the country, the service expanded to other countries in the region. It’s the second most downloaded navigation app in the world, and it’s already running in 46 countries.
Tomsky, who was born in one of the coldest cities on the planet, Yakutsk, near the Arctic Circle, in Russian Siberia, designed the app for a group of commuters who rejected price overruns by taxi drivers and couriers in that region. region. With a life devoid of major expenses, no house and no car, he spent millions of dollars on non-profit initiatives. He currently lives in Mountain View, California (USA), where the company is headquartered.
Uber in North America has managed to stay in the country
In terms of user volume, the second platform is Uber, which has more than 2 million users, and is the company that received the support of the Supreme Court last October when the decision issued by the Bogota court to continue operating was ratified, which overturned its decision. The Industry and Trade Regulatory Authority that led to Uber’s exit from the market at the end of 2019.
Uber was founded in 2009 when Travis Kalanick and Garret Camp combined smartphone technology with premium car transportation in San Francisco, USA, to create this revolutionary startup that pioneered the app-based car market. Over time, the service diversified until it became more affordable with the launch of Uber X in 2012.
A year later, at the end of 2013, he arrived in Colombia, his second country in Latin America after Mexico. Over time, other services were added to the platform such as Uber Taxi, which was launched in September 2021 as a result of the alliance between Uber and TaxExpress, or Uber Confort, which allows you to rent a car with more space and comfort. The app is available in more than 18 cities and has more than 70,000 active car rentals on the platform.
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(tags for translation) Las2orillas
