As Uber expands in Africa and across the world, its competitors aren’t asleep. Rocket Internet-backed taxi hailing app Easy Taxi, operating in Latin America, Africa, Middle East and Asia has secured USD 40m in Series D funding led by the Russian Phenomen Ventures with participation of Tengelmann Ventures, a Tengelmann Group company to strenthen its position in the multiple markets.
According to Dennis Wang, co-CEO at Easy Taxi: “This new round of funding will allow us to continue our growth trajectory in existing markets, advance our technology, scale our operations and improve our service towards more audiences and geographies. In particular, the expertise of our new investors aligns with our ambition to further increase our market share in Asia and consolidate our leadership in Latin America.”
Founded in Brazil in 2011, Easy Taxi is now live 32 countries and 162 cities worldwide and it’s dead simple to use .I have used Easi Taxi on Windows and it’s dead simple. You simply download the app, get a driver on the other end and confirm where you want to be picked up and order a cab with just a click. You get the name of the driver, his passport photo and car model and registration plate of their pre-screened taxi driver, and as the driver comes to pick you up, you can monitor where he has reached and how long it will take before he or she picks you up. Easy Taxi is getting much competition from nearly similar apps across its various markets but Uber also has a huge war chest and has been expanding like bush fire.
The investment will help the firm double up its efforts of hiring more drivers and getting word out about themselves.
“In the last year we were able to add over 150,000 drivers to our network, bringing it now to around 185,000. We complete millions of rides per month across 160+ cities in 30+ countries worldwide, and the additional funding will enable us to continue working towards our mission of making the traditional taxi industry function in a much more convenient and safe way than it ever has,” says Tallis Gomes, co-CEO.
Phenomen Ventures and Tengelmann Group have invested in various Rocket Internet companies globally.