Tag: Uber App

  • Uber, Ola & Co. Demand GST Guidelines from Tax Authorities

    Ola, Uber, and Rapido are among the ride-hailing companies that will present a new set of arguments to the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) regarding the controversial topic of whether the goods and services tax (GST) applies to services provided using the software as a service (SaaS) model.

    Instead of paying gig workers a commission, platforms that use the SaaS model charge them a set monthly price. According to a media report, businesses are anticipated to highlight any ambiguities resulting from the SaaS model’s uneven tax treatment in light of conflicting decisions made by the Karnataka Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR).

    They claimed that the Karnataka AAR’s ruling was skewing the industry’s competitive parity.

    Karnataka Govt Not Providing Same Level Playing Field

    The Karnataka AAR ruled that Uber and Rapido must pay the tax under the same scheme, even though it permitted ONDC-affiliated Namma Yatri to operate without imposing GST.

    While Uber has implemented this concept for three-wheeler ride-hailing, Rapido uses it for its auto-rickshaw and four-wheeler ride-hailing services. Earlier this month, Ola Consumer extended its subscription model, which it had initially used for autorickshaws, to include four-wheeler taxi services.

     According to a media report, some businesses have adopted a “no-tax position” regarding the subscription model, which results in inequity for players who pay taxes and charge commission.

    The ride-hailing industry is a price-sensitive one, and those that use a subscription model wind up offering riders substantially cheaper fares. This disadvantages some businesses in the marketplace.

    Subscription Model to Bypass GST

    As per a media report, the decision to introduce subscription-based plans, in which platforms charge driver partners on their platforms a set daily or weekly cost for an unlimited number of trips, may enable businesses to avoid paying the 5% GST that is applied to journeys that they facilitate.

    Section 9(5) of the Central GST Act, which requires e-commerce enterprises, including food delivery services, ride-hailing platforms, and online retailers, to collect and pay tax on behalf of service providers listed on their applications, applies the 5% GST. These consist of drivers, eateries, and online marketplace vendors.

    The new arguments follow a recent direction from the Karnataka High Court requesting that CBIC consult with interested parties and make clear its position on the issue.

    Due to uncertainty about whether a September 2023 advance tax ruling that held Namma Yatri need not collect and pay GST would also apply to other platforms, tax experts warned that companies using subscription models to avoid the 5% GST could potentially result in disputes between operators and tax authorities.

    However, the Karnataka AAR declared in July 2024 that Rapido had to pay GST for its taxi services, and in November of the same year, it declared that Uber would also be required to pay tax for services that were introduced under the subscription model.

  • Startups Funded by Google Ventures | GV Investments

    There is almost no big company or enterprise that didn’t start from scratch. From Tesla to Apple to Pixar, most of them started off with a great idea, lots of effort, and a small garage. With every passing day, entrepreneurs come up with amazing startup ideas and newer methods to implement them. This, however, is easier said than done, since startups need both funding and support along with immense hard work in their initial days to be successful. As part of its funding program, Google has helped some of the top startups, and some of those startups have become well-known companies.

    This is where equity and venture firms come in. If they find the idea behind a startup reasonably adequate, they make the initial and much-needed investment in the startup. Blackstone and Apollo Global Management are some equity investment firms, while Google Ventures is a venture investment firm. But before knowing what startups are funded by Google, let’s find out how funding works.

    How does Startup Funding Works?
    Google Ventures
    Startups Funded by Google

    1. Slack
    2. Uber
    3. Medium
    4. StockX
    5. Stripe
    6. GitLab
    7. DocuSign
    8. Magenta Therapeutics
    9. One Medical
    10. Zipline
    11. Farmer Business Network
    12. Sense
    13. Scribble Data
    14. Jio Platforms
    15. Wysa
    16. Dailyhunt
    17. Glance

    How does Startup Funding Works?

    Apparently, there are certainly different kinds of funding based on factors such as startup valuation, its customer base, strategy, revenue model and other technical factors. These funding are categorized as follows:

    • Pre-seed FundingThis is the earliest stage of a startup, and the funding here is mostly the initial investment in the idea and is done by the founders themselves. This stage isn’t even officially included in the funding rounds, however, it is where a startup begins.
    • Seed Funding– This is where the first official investment for a business or a venture is made. Seed funding helps startups take the initial steps towards making their products. While the failed startups never go beyond this stage, the one’s that do, proceed to the Series A round.
    • Series A Funding– Once a startup or company has surpassed Seed round, has an established user base, and offers its services or products, they can opt for Series A Funding. This is where startups can use the investment money to further optimize their product, and raise anywhere from $2 million to $15 million.
    • Series B Funding– After Series A, this round helps a business to advance to the next level. If the company has justified the initial investment with a strong customer base and valuation, Series B funding helps to take the business to the next level. The investment in this round can range from $30 million to $60 million.
    • Series C Funding– The businesses which are already successful and are looking to build new products to touch newer markets are funded in this round. The companies in this round may also acquire startups and the investors and founders in this round look for exponential growth. The valuation of companies in this round can range in hundreds of millions.

    Although there can be more funding rounds corresponding to the alphabet, these are particularly the one’s where most startups reach. There is also private equity funding away from public markets in which private companies can finance startups privately.


    List of Top Indian Venture Capital Firms and Investors to fund Startups
    Some of the businesses are to make predictions, which is tougher than you canthink. There is a trend to spot a pattern and predict future functionalities andsuccess. The job of the Venture Capital (VC) executives is to spot the trend andinvest in aspiring and growing startups. For example, Flip…


    Google Ventures

    Google Ventures is a venture capital investment firm of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, CEO is David Krane. Renamed to GV, the primary objective of Google Ventures since its conception has been to back founders with a vision for the future of entrepreneurship. GV has funded over 500 portfolio companies and is in constant search of new and industry-changing ideas and startups.

    GV flaunts a team of founders, physicians, and other professionals, who have been in the startup ecosystem for a long, and understand it more than most people. This team of specialists, engineers, advisors, and fund operatives help GV to solve challenges and deliver feedback to create better services. GV invests across all stages and sectors, with a focus on enterprise, life sciences, consumer, and frontier technology. GV has made 988 investments so far. Recently on July 29, 2022, GV made a $3.3 Million investment in New York-based consumer Software, Studio.

    Google Ventures on Investment in Startups

    Startups Funded by Google

    Slack

    Industry: Enterprise Software
    GV Investment: $110.8 Million

    Slacks | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google
    Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google

    American software company Slack Technologies developed the proprietary business communication platform Slack. Slack offers a number of IRC-style features, including persistent chat rooms organized by topic, private groups, and direct messaging. Google Ventures invested $110.8M in October 2014.

    Uber

    Industry: Transportation
    GV Investment: $1.8 Billion

    Uber | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google
    Uber | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google

    Who in the digital world isn’t aware of the most popular cab service Uber? It has turned out to be one of the most popular cab booking services around the globe, and both cab drivers, as well as people who need them use it on a regular basis. It is a consumer service and has also set its foot in the food delivery services. Uber has offered quality, door-to-door service and continues to do so by constantly introducing safety features in its Community Guidelines. Uber has been Google Ventures’ biggest investment to date. Google Ventures has invested approximately $1.8 Billion in Uber.


    Dara Khosrowshahi: CEO of Uber | Iranian-American Entrepreneur
    Overcoming the odds in life is more than a test. Dara Khosrowshahi is one suchindividual whose journey to fame and prosperity was imbued with challenges. Bornin Iran, his family moved to the United States after his father was detained byIranian authorities for six years. Having served as the CEO …


    Medium

    Industry: Digital Media
    GV Investment: $19 Million

    Medium | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google
    Medium | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google

    Medium is a blogging platform that suggests viewers blog through smart algorithms. World-class publications and experts publish their blogs in different niches, and viewers can choose their preferred subjects to read the latest research papers, articles, and blogs. The popularity of Medium attracted Google’s interest and they invested. Medium currently flaunts its user base of 170 million users and counting, with the writers including journalists, authors, experts, and individuals.

    StockX

    Industry: Stock Market
    GV Investment: $22 Million

    StockX | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google
    StocksX | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google

    As described by Google Ventures, StockX is the world’s first ‘Stock Market for Things’. This is an online marketplace where both buyers and sellers put forth the bidding and asking amount, and as soon as both of them meet, the transaction takes place. The marketplace that StockX offers can be used to sell any sellable product from sneakers to watches; all you need to do is sign up. Google ventures and battery ventures invested $44 M in series B funding.


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    Stripe

    Industry: Digital Payment
    GV Investment: $600 million (along with other investors)

    Stripe | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google
    Stripe | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google

    Stripe is one of the most popular payments processor for online transactions and in mobile applications. Today, millions of online and offline businesses from startups to bigger enterprises use Stripe as their payments processor. Be it Software as a Service, an online platform or your marketplace, Stripe can be used in all these cases either through the software or its API.

    “Stripe is the best way to accept payments online and in mobile apps.” says Google Venture.

    GitLab

    Industry: Software
    GV Investment: $20 Million

    GitLab | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google
    GitLab | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google

    GitLab is a DevOps platform that accelerates development through collaboration and automation. With various organizations relying on its source code, CI/CD, and security, GitLab offers powerful automation with real-time security and vulnerability management. Moreover, GitLab is trusted by some well-known industry-leading companies including Nvidia, Siemens, and Drupal. GitLab has received funding from Google Ventures in both Series C and Series D rounds of funding.

    DocuSign

    Industry: Software
    GV Investment: $8.1 Million

    DocuSign | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google
    Docusign | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google

    A leader in eSignature transaction management, DocuSign has become an industry and global standard for eSignatures. DocuSign gained popularity with the help of Google. DocuSign has garnered a user base of over 500k customers and hundreds of millions of signers. DocuSign was introduced and established based on the fact that most modern businesses will need to go online and hence the online document management needed to be taken into consideration. Google Ventures invested in Series D round in June 2012.

    Magenta Therapeutics

    Industry: Healthcare & Life Science
    GV Investment: $8 Million

    Magenta Therapeutics | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google
    Magenta therapeutics | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google

    Magenta Therapeutics is a leading expert in harnessing stem cell biology for safer transplants. It endeavours to reset a patient’s immune system through stem cell transplant to cure diseases such as blood cancer. It is also developing novel medicines through commitment and excellence. Also, Magenta is revolutionizing medicine by precisely removing disease-causing cells and revamping stem cell mobilization.

    “Magenta is harnessing stem cell biology to make transplants safer and more effective for patients with immune and blood-based diseases.” Says Google Venture.

    One Medical

    Industry: Healthcare
    GV Investment: $13 Million

    One Medical | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google
    One Medical | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google

    One Medical is currently trying to reinvent healthcare with innovation and technology. As of now, One Medical offers and schedules in-person or over video appointments, 24/7 on-demand video chats with a virtual medical team, over 90 drop-in lab services, along COVID-19 testing and care. Moreover, OneMedical acts as an employee benefits partner for over 7000 companies. Google Venture invested Private Equity round of funding in December 2015.


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    Zipline

    Industry: Robotics
    GV Investment: $12 Million

    Zipline | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google
    Zipline | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google

    Zipline is a company that delivers life-saving medicines and drugs to remote and previously unreachable parts of the world using electric planes and drones. It makes precise, on-demand and critical deliveries, wherever and whenever needed, with safety and reliability. The access to on-demand delivery is made global, owing to Zipline, and it seeks to replace the traditional delivery system with customer-centred and cutting edge technology. Google venture Invested in Series C round of funding in May 2019. In the last funding round in June 2021, Zipline has raised a funding of $250M which made the startup valuation to be $2.5 billion.

    Farmer Business Network

    Industry: AgriTech
    GV Investment: $15 Million

    Farmers Business Network | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google
    farmers Business Network | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google

    Farmer Business Network is a tool that helps farmers understand and enhance their crops and yields with advanced insights and real-time data analysis. It is a global Agritech company and seeks to help farmers reduce production costs, maximize crop yield and output, and make informed and confident decisions when it comes to crops. Farmer Business Network can help farmers manage contracts, select seeds, monitor fields, and organize operations with premium crop marketing and financial services. FBN raised a funding of $15 million in 2015 from Google Ventures. Recently, they raired $870 million in series G funding round in November 2021.

    “Farmers Business Network generates powerful insights from real-time data to help farmers understand and improve their crop performance.” says Google Venture.

    Sense

    Industry: Artificial Intelligence
    GV Investment: $16 Million

    Sense | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google
    Sense | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google

    Sense is an artificial intelligence-driven talent engagement and communication platform that was founded by Dharni and Pankaj Jindal in 2015. The company has its headquarters in San Francisco and is known for providing enterprise-ready solutions that provide a system of engagement for talent acquisition teams.

    Sense has so far helped many companies find, recruit, deploy talent and automate manual tasks for recruiters. The company has raised $16 million as part of its Series C round from Avataar, Google Ventures, Accel and Khosla Ventures. The company is said to use these funds to get a foothold in the Indian market, add new products, expand its team and go into newer geographies.

    Scribble Data

    Industry: Machine Learning
    GV Investment:

    Scribble Data | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google
    Scribble Data | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google

    Scribble data is an ML engineering product company that offers ML Feature Store for mid-market enterprise data teams.  The company is known for its flagship product known as Enrich, which is a highly customizable Machine Learning Feature. Scribble Enrich is a store product that allows data scientists to develop and manage production-ready datasets that are used to train ML models faster and with confidence.

    Data-driven companies such as Google and Amazon have invested an undisclosed amount of money into the company in May 2020. Google funding for startups such as Scribble, has helped the platform to scale and deliver Enrich in international markets for enterprise-grade Machine Learning products.

    Jio Platforms

    Industry: Telecommunication
    GV Investment: $4.5 billion

    Jio | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google
    Jio | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google

    Jio Platforms is an Indian technology company and a subsidiary of Reliance Industries. The company has its headquarters in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The company acts as a holding company for Jio (which is India’s largest and the world’s third-largest mobile network) and other digital businesses of Reliance. As of 2020, Jio platforms became the fourth largest Indian company by market capitalization.

    In November 2020, Google-funded $4.5 billion to the Jio platform, which makes it the biggest-ever investment in an Indian company. Google now reportedly holds over 7.73% share in the company. The company has now raised a total of Rs 1.52 lakh crore by selling an almost 33% stake to over 13 financial and strategic investors in under 11 weeks. This will help the company to cut down Reliance’s net debt target for the full fiscal year.

    Wysa

    Industry: Artificial Intelligence
    GV Investment:

    Wysa | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google
    Wysa | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google

    Wysa is an AI-enabled life coach designed especially for mental and emotional wellness. The company was initially launched in 2017 and provides its users with the ability to activate coach and chat anonymously. The company provides early intervention through 3 methods, which are an AI chatbot, a library of self-help tools, and messaging-based support from human psychologists.

    Google Ventures India, has funded an undisclosed amount in the AI Platform in May 2021. Wysa was a part of the first batch of 10 startups for Google Launchpad Accelerator India, which was held in 2018. In 2021 however, the Sleep by Wysa app was awarded the best app by the Google Play Store. According to Crunchbase, the company has so far raised $3.9 million from three funding rounds.

    Dailyhunt

    Industry: Social Media
    GV Investment: $33 Million

    Dailyhunt | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google
    Dailyhunt | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google

    Dailyhunt is one of the leading Indian content and news aggregator app. The company has its headquarters in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The platform provides news in 14 Indian languages from multiple content providers to over 300 million users. In 2015, Dailyhunt became the largest Indian language distributor of e-books having 70,000 titles in ten languages.

    As of December 2020, Dailyhunt has raised over $100 million from Google, Microsoft and AlphaWave among other investors. Google funding rounds helped the company become a Unicorn as its value increased to over $1 billion. The company is planning to use the funds to scale its Josh app, which is an augmentation of local language content offerings. Google-funded startups in India with a budget of over $10 billion over a few years.

    Glance

    Industry:
    GV Investment:

    Glance | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google
    Glance | Google Ventures | Startup Funded By Google

    A google-funded startup called Glance is a startup that was founded in 2018. The company serves news, media content and games on the lock screen of more than 100 million smartphones. The company is a subsidiary of InMobi Group and is known for using AI to offer a personalized experience to its users.

    The company raised over $145 million in a new financing round from Google and existing investors like Mithril Partners. According to Google, Glance is a great example of innovation solving for mobile-first & mobile-only consumption, and providing content across many Indian languages. Google funding for startups like Glance, has helped them evolve and grow their audience.

    FAQs

    What is Google Venture (GV)?

    Google Ventures is a venture capital investment firm of Alphabet, the parent company of Google.

    Who is the CEO of GV (formerly Google Ventures)?

    David Krane is the CEO of GV.

    How many companies have Google Ventures funded?

    Google Ventures has funded more than 500 companies. Some of them are:

    • Slack
    • Uber
    • Medium
    • StockX
    • Stripe
    • GitLab
    • DocuSign
    • Magenta Therapeutics
    • Dailyhunt
    • Glance

    What are the sectors Google Ventures invest in?

    Google Ventures invests across all stages of startups and varied sectors. The major industries in which Google Ventures invests are:

    • Enterprise
    • Life sciences
    • HealthCare
    • Consumer
    • Frontier technology.

    How do startups get funded?

    Startups use various methods for funding:

    • Small Business Loans
    • Trade Equity or Services
    • Incubator or Accelerator
    • Crowdfunding.

    Who owns Google now?

    The parent organization of Google is Alphabet Inc.

    What do startups use the funding for?

    Startups raise funds for various reasons, mainly for the growth and expansion of their business.

    Who are the founders of Google?

    Larry Page and Sergey Brin are the founders of Google.

    What is the valuation of Google?

    Google has a valuation of $1.5 trillion.

  • Why Uber and Lyft will pay legal Fees for its drivers sued under Texas Abortion Law?

    On September 3rd 2021, both Lyft and Uber announced that the companies will now cover the complete legal fees of the drivers who get sued under the new controversial abortion law in Texas. The Texas Abortion Law is also known as the Texas Heartbeat Act and Senate Bill 8 was passed on 19th May 2021 bans abortion after six weeks or after the heartbeat is detected.

    According to many medical studies, most women usually are not even aware of the pregnancy for six weeks. Besides that Senate Bill 8 also gives Texan citizens the access to file a lawsuit and collect damages of up to $10,000 against anyone who is considered to be aiding or abetting women in getting an abortion. The driver who would drive women to clinics or hospitals in the state is also potentially liable.

    The law has caused protests and outrage by women not only in Texas but across the world. It is also considered to be the biggest restraint to the constitutional right of women to get an abortion in decades.

    Uber and Lyft’s take on the Texan Abortion Law
    A Brief about the Texas Abortion Law
    What other companies think of Texas Abortion Law
    Frequently Asked Questions

    Uber and Lyft’s take on the Texan Abortion Law

    On 3rd September 2021, Logan Green the current CEO of Lyft said that the company is creating a driver legal defense fund in order to cover the complete legal fees if the company driver gets sued under the new abortion law in Texas.

    In a statement against the new Senate Bill 8 law, Lyft went on to say that it was incompatible with women basic right to privacy as those are the values of the company.

    The company also said that that the law was an attack on women’s access to healthcare and their right. This is why Lyft donated a sum of $1 million to an organization called Planned Parenthood in order to ensure that transportation never becomes a barrier to people accessing healthcare. Lyft also encouraged other companies to follow in their footsteps.

    In a statement, Lyft said that “Drivers are never responsible for monitoring where their riders go or why. Imagine being a driver and not knowing if you are breaking the law by giving someone a ride.” The company also added that “Similarly, riders never have to justify, or even share, where they are going and why. Imagine being a pregnant woman trying to get to a healthcare appointment and not knowing if your driver will cancel on you for fear of breaking a law. Both are completely unacceptable.”

    Shortly after Lyft statement, Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi also joined hands with Lyft facilitating their drivers with a similar policy.

    In a Twitter post, Dara Khosrowshahi said that “Drivers shouldn’t be put at risk for getting people where they want to go. Team Uber is in too and will cover legal fees in the same way.”


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    A Brief about the Texas Abortion Law

    On 19th May 2021, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed the Texas Heartbeat Act which is also known as Senate Bill 8 of the 87th Legislature. According to this bill, abortion is considered to be outlawed once the heartbeat of a fetal is detected, which usually occurs in the sixth week of pregnancy. Besides banning abortion after six weeks, the law does not have any exceptions for instances of rape or incest.

    It only allows abortions in the case of medical emergencies. With Senate Bill 8 coming into action, people can now sue anyone who helps a Texan woman seeking an abortion. However, according to the law, the women seeking an abortion will not be the target of prosecution, while anyone who helps women get abortions can get charged over $10,000 by Texan citizens.

    The Senate Bill 8 met with a few legal challenges, but after the Supreme Court denied an emergency appeal from abortion providers the same week. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 leading to the law to come into action on 1st September 2021.


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    What other companies think of Texas Abortion Law

    The top dating companies like Bumble and Match have also raised their voice against the new abortion laws in Texas. The companies have come forth in order to help fund Texan women access the services for abortion. Shar Dubey the CEO of Match said that the company has set up funds for employees who need help to travel to another state to have an abortion.

    In a statement, Bumble also added that the company will launch a fund in order to help women who want services for abortion in Texas. Another web hosting company called GoDaddy also removed a group known as Texas Right to Life as it was said to be in support of the new law and because it was putting up information about alleged violations of the act. GoDaddy removed Texas Right to Life on the terms that it violated the terms of service of its platform.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What is the Senate Bill 8?

    According to this bill, abortion is considered to be outlawed once the heartbeat of a fetal is detected, which usually occurs in the sixth week of pregnancy.

    When did Texas Heartbeat Act come into effect?

    The Texas Heartbeat Act come into effect on 1st September 2021.

    Both Uber and Lyft are paying legal fees for their drivers who sued under the Texas Abortion laws because they think they believe that drivers should not be put at risk for getting people where they want to go.

  • Interesting Facts about Uber that People Don’t Know

    Uber has become synonymous with cab service and the name itself needs no introduction. You can book a ride with just one tap. The app connects drivers present in more than 150 cities of the world. The total duration between booking a ride and pick-up ranges between 15-20 minutes. The company is a US based startup and launched itself in India in the year 2013. It was first launched in the city of Bangalore. Now, it is operating in many cities of our country.

    This cab service providing company has millions of users and drivers. Uber has been in the limelight for various reasons, both good and bad. There are many things about Uber which many people still don’t know. This article will cover all those unknown facts. Keep scrolling the article to fulfill your curiosity about the same.


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    Uber’s Origin
    A Nuclear Physicist’s Entry in the Company
    Keeping the drivers in dark about the destination
    No discount for Uber drivers
    Ratio of Men: Women drivers is quite less
    Three Employee Policy
    Each drivers gets an iPhone
    No cash, just digital money
    Age of Uber Cars
    Uber’s Annoying alarm
    Rating of users
    Incentives for New users
    Currency drain
    Not so affordable rides
    Company earns by playing middleman
    Uber Kittens- A new venture
    No service in Antarctica
    Love of the company for Latin
    World record of longest Uber ride
    Name is shared by a design firm
    FAQs

    Uber Facts

    Uber’s Origin

    Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick- Uber Founders
    Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick- Uber Founders

    The company was founded by Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick in 2009. The idea of cab services hit the founder- Camp when he noticed the high cost of transportation and then came up with the idea of an affordable alternative. Travis Kalanick is a college dropout from University of California, Los Angeles. Uber was the third venture by Travis Kalanick. Garrett Camp is also the founder of StumbleUpon. The company was earlier named as UberCab and then in 2011 the company changed its name to Uber when it was introduced in San Francisco.

    A Nuclear Physicist’s Entry in the Company

    You might be feeling confused after reading this. But, it’s true that the company once hired a nuclear physicist, a neuroscientist and a machinery expert. This was done in order to understand the demand of the service. It helped them predict the areas where the demand was high and for providing an accurate method of recommending fare using the GPS.

    Keeping the drivers in dark about the destination

    Uber drivers don’t know the destination of the passenger while receiving the ride request. Uber Drivers become aware of the destination once they agree to pick them up. It is quite a weird thing and it is not known why Uber does this.

    No discount for Uber drivers

    Uber doesn’t offer any sort of discounts to it’s drivers. If you think that they might be getting some off or discount on rides in Uber then, you are wrong. However, they are provided with other incentives.

    Ratio of Men: Women drivers is quite less

    There is quite a low ratio of men:women drivers in the company. A study has suggested that there are only 14% of women drivers in the company. Uber is planning to increase the percentage and in the past also aimed to add 1 million female drivers by 2022.


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    Three Employee Policy

    Uber hires just three employees per city who are responsible for handling all the operations within that city. For any concerns, these three people have to be contacted.

    Each drivers gets an iPhone

    Company gives the latest model iPhones to all its drivers so that the driver can track your location and reach on time. iPhone is just used for this purpose and all the other features aren’t available for the drivers.

    No cash, just digital money

    Uber has a No Cash policy which means that you can not pay the drivers using cash. Credit cards can be used to create an Uber account. No debit cards are accepted. But there is more cash using population in our country. There is a very small percentage of people who do cashless transactions.

    Age of Uber Cars

    Uber is quite strict in terms of age of the car. Drivers are not permitted to use a car that is more than 10 years old. This restriction is beneficial for passengers as no one would like to spend money on some old ride.

    Uber’s Annoying alarm

    Uber drivers have a common complaint from the company and that is the annoying alarm. Alarm signals a ride request and its sound is quite hard to miss. Sole benefit of this alarm is that the sound can not be missed.

    Rating of users

    Till now, you must just be aware of the fact that drivers’ are rated by the users. But, it’s also the other way round. Drivers also rate you according to your behavior. Rating affects your pick-ups as if you are a bad rated user then, you’ll be a less preferred customer. Keep this point in your mind before you make an Uber driver wait for you.

    Incentives for New users

    Uber is seen as a company which never fails to attract customers. It indulges in various marketing strategies. One of them is offering free rides to users on special occasions. Various other cab services have not been able to match Uber on this front. It has been able to afford such innovative marketing because of large investors such as Google and Kleiner Perkins.

    Currency drain

    Uber is a US based company. The money charged from people goes to an Uber account near Amsterdam from where it is further transferred to US Wells Fargo account. After 7 days, 80% of the money paid by customers comes to a driver’s account. Many complaints regarding foreign exchange have come into the notice of RBI. If the company wants to operate in India then, it has to make various changes in its current way of operation. Such complaints have been registered in other countries as well.

    Not so affordable rides

    If we see the base fares, cost per km and cost per minute then, Uber Black luxury rides seem to be quite expensive when compared to the same services offered by rival companies. Recently, Uber has launched UberX which offers cars such as Toyota Etios and Maruti Swift Dzire at very nominal cost. Let’s see if this new idea is able to attract more customers.

    Company earns by playing middleman

    The cars which operate under the name of Uber aren’t owned by the company. Uber just acts as a middleman between people and cab drivers.


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    Uber Kittens- A new venture

    Uber Kittens
    Uber Kittens

    Uber likes to experiment with various new concepts. It recently introduced UberKITTENS in the US. It was started in seven cities and provided the option of spending time with real kittens.

    No service in Antarctica

    Uber doesn’t offer it’s services in Antarctica. It’s services are operational in 173 countries of the world and have millions of users. Uber has conducted more than 5 billion trips since it’s launch.

    Love of the company for Latin

    Do you know what Los Ubers are? It is a group of Uber employees who have come together with the single motive of spreading the greatness of Latino culture all across the globe. This makes the company’s love of Latin very clear to us.

    World record of longest Uber ride

    The longest Uber ride was 3361 Kilometers’ long and this incident took place in 2017. This is another amazing fact about the company. The driver drove 2256 miles or 3361Km. He drove a YouTube celebrity from North Carolina to California.

    Name is shared by a design firm

    Uber Technologies shares its name with a design firm that was established in 1999. It has happened several times that when Uber Technologies was amid some controversies, the design firm was made a target for many lawsuits.

    So, these were some of the unknown facts about the company. Hope you enjoyed reading the article.

    FAQs

    What is Uber famous for?

    Uber Technologies is an American app-based transportation platform.

    Why is it called Uber?

    The name Uber is derived from the German word meaning “above all the rest”.

    When was Uber app founded?

    Uber’s mobile app was officially launched in San Francisco in 2011.

    Is Uber kitten real?

    Uber recently introduced UberKITTENS in the US. It provides the option of spending time with real kittens for 15 minutes.

    What is the longest Uber ride ever?

    The longest Uber ride was 3361 Kilometers’ long and this incident took place in 2017.