Uber Wants To Conquer The World

Sep 09, 2015

Ride-hailing apps are scrambling to grab market share as demographics shift and smartphones proliferate. The map above shows where already dominates — and where Uber is the Lyft to someone else’s Uber. Here are the companies that stand between Uber and its world domination in each continent:

ASIA:

China

Major: Didi Kuaidi

Minor: Uber, Yidao Yongche, Shenzhou Zhuanche, AA Carpool

Didi Kuaidi, Uber’s biggest rival, is a merger of China’s two biggest ride-hailing apps, Didi Dache and Kuaidi Dache. The company claims 6 million rides a day, six times that of Uber in China. The chart below shows share of private car ride orders in the first quarter of 2015.

India

Major: Olacabs

Minor: Uber, Meru

Uber’s entry forced larger players Ola and TaxiForSure to merge in March, amassing 80% market share and raising another $400 million from powerful backers like SoftBank and Tiger Global. Mobile analytics firm Quettra estimated the portion of smartphones in India with each app installed (shown in the bar chart below):

South Korea

Minor: KakaoTaxi, Uber, Limo Taxi, T-Map Taxi, Hailo, Easy Taxi, Baek Gisa

South Korea banned UberX and charged its CEO and senior executives of breaking transportation laws. South Korea’s popular messaging app Daum KaKao launched its own taxi-hailing service in March.

Japan

Minor: Line Taxi, Hailo, Uber

Japan’s most popular messaging app, LINE, launched its taxi service in early 2015.

Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines

Major: GrabTaxi

Minor: Uber, Easy Taxi

Singapore’s GrabTaxi, front-runner in six Southeast Asian markets, has joined the global anti-Uber alliance with $700 million in investments from Asian giants like SoftBank and Didi Kuaidi.

EUROPE:

U.K.

Major: Uber, Gett

Minor: Hailo, Addison Lee

Uber has infuriated cabbies, but Israel’s Gett has gained ground by targeting black-cab hailing.

France

Major: BlablaCar

Minor: Uber, Chaffeur-Prive, LeCab

BlaBlaCar focuses on long-distance carpooling and raised $100 million in 2014 to expand in Europe.

Spain

Major: MyTaxi, Hailo

Minor: Cabify

Uber has been protesting its ban in Spain since last December. Users have turned to legal taxi-hailing apps like Hailo and MyTaxi as well as Cabify.

Czech Republic

Minor: Uber, Liftago, Tick Tack Taxi, AAA

Prague became the first destination for Uber’s expansion in central and eastern Europe last August. Local rival Liftago already claims to have 10% of Prague drivers.

Germany

 

Major: Mytaxi Minor: Wundercar, Uber, BlablaCar, Blacklane

Germany’s Wundercar resembles Lyft in that it allows passengers to tip a driver. The government has put a stop to most profit-taking car-hailing services for now.

Sweden

Minor: Uber, Taxijakt

Sweden’s taxi industry and government welcomed competition from Uber.

Russia

Major: Yandex

Minor: Uber, Gett

Russian search engine Yandex has a taxi-hailing app with a two-year head start on Uber.

NORTH AMERICA:

Canada

 

Major: Uber

Uber’s only real competitors are taxi companies with their own smartphone apps.

Mexico

Major: Uber

Minor: Cabify, Easy Taxi, Yaxi

In July Mexico City became the first Latin American city to pass regulations accommodating Uber ‘ s private car service (and smaller Cabify). But two weeks later cabbies rioted, attacking Uber drivers outside the airport.

United States

Major: Uber, Lyft

 

Minor players: Sidecar, Flywheel, Via, Curb

Everything Uber knows how to do it learned first in its home country, from winning over (or wearing down) regulators to lashing out at Lyft, its biggest U.S. rival.

SOUTH AMERICA:

Brazil

Major: Easy Taxi, Uber

Easy Taxi, born in Startup Weekend Rio in 2011 and backed by Germany’s Rocket Internet, has now expanded into 30 countries with a $77 million war chest.

Colombia

Major: Cabs

Minor: Uber, Easy Taxi

Uber entered in 2013, but local taxi unions fought back by calling massive strikes.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA:

Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa

Minor: Easy Taxi, Maramoja (Kenya), Uber

While Uber is adapting for a demographic with low penetration of smartphone usage, Brazil’s Easy Taxi has gained an edge by better vetting local drivers in high-crime cities.

United Arab Emirates/Middle East

 

Major: Uber, Careem

 

Minor: Easy Taxi

Uber and Careem of Dubai both let users call private cars in large cities across the Middle East and Africa, while EasyTaxi lets users e-hail taxis.

Israel

Major: Gett

Minor: RideWith, Uber

Homegrown Gett has a strong grip on the market, while Uber is growing but still illegal. Recent surprise entrant is RideWith, an app made by Google's Waze.

Turkey

Minor: Uber, BiTaksi

Turkey’s market is relatively new–both Uber and local player BiTaksi launched last year, starting in tourist-heavy Istanbul.

OCEANIA:

Australia

Major: Cabcharge, Uber

Minor: Ingogo, GoCatch, RideBoom

Despite murky legal status, Uber has reportedly gained half a million passengers.

Source: Forbes