Technology

Posted on June 8, 2018 by staff

Uber rival Gett drives growth with $80m raise

Technology

While Uber has recently struggled under sexism allegations, a management change and a London ban, taxi app Gett has been quietly laying the foundations of a new era of ride-hailing.

The company, which is used by more than half of London’s black cabs, has raised $80m (£58.9m) in a funding round led by Volkswagen, which boosts the firm’s valuation to $1.4bn.

Other previous investors also got involved.

Thanks to the raise, the company expects to be profitable by Q1 next year, something which Uber cannot yet say, and has raised a whopping $700m in total.

Having said that, its valuation is still a fraction of Uber’s at $62bn and also lags behind other contender Lyft’s at $11bn.

Based across 120 cities, the app’s biggest market is currently New York, where it’s known as Juno, the name of the company that acquired Gett for $200m in 2017.

So far Gett has focussed on driving quality and slower growth, only employing drivers with a rating of 4.8 or higher.

Gett founder and CEO Dave Waiser says that a focus on delivering a quality service both to customers and drivers has resulted in the firm’s expansion. He believes this will give the company the edge over its competitors over time.

Based in Israel, the majority of the firm’s business comes from corporate taxi bookings, having secured deals with more than 13,000 businesses.

Waiser said that all major shareholders took part in the round, including Access Industries, Baring Vistok and MCI.