Tag: uber

What Makes A Unicorn Startup & How To Build One
People know about popular unicorn companies like Uber, Swiggy, Airbnb, Snapchat, and Pinterest and their journey to success, but most people don’t know what a unicorn company exactly means. What are the different criteria for a startup company to become a unicorn? A unicorn in the Business world indicates a privately owned startup company that has a valuation of $1 billion.

The term was initially coined by a well-known venture capitalist Aileen Lee, who choose the mythical animal to represent the statistical rarity of successful startup companies. The simplest definition of a startup has remained unchanged ever since, while the number of unicorns has gone up. Unicorn has now become a catchphrase within the global startup market. When a startup becomes a unicorn, it shows how the business model of the company and its value proposition is in the eyes of the investors. The unicorn helps grows in both visibility and operational outlay, which often leads directly to greater business opportunities for the organization.

The article ahead will give you an insight on How to become a Unicorn Startup, the Features & Characteristics of a Unicorn Company, and more.

The Characteristics of Unicorn Startup
Investors of the Unicorn Companies
Can Only Startups be a Unicorn?
Disruption and Value Seeding
Market Size of the Unicorn Companies
Maximizes Growth and Net Profit
Which Indian Startups turned Unicorn in 2021?
FAQ’s
Conclusion

The Characteristics of Unicorn Startup

The process to be a unicorn is not easy and each and every unicorn has its own story. All the unicorn companies have a similar set of features that makes them a unicorn startup.
- Groundbreaking innovations: The unicorn companies have brought a disruption in the field they belong to. Uber, for example, changed the way people commuted. While Airbnb is known to have changed the way people planned their way while traveling. The innovative strategies are what make them a unicorn company.
- The First innovations: The unicorn companies are mostly the starters in their industry. They change the way people do things and gradually create a necessity for themselves. They are also known to continuously innovate and stay ahead of competitors which might later boom.
- High Technology: Most unicorn companies have a business model run on a higher level of technology. Almost 87% of the unicorn products are software, 7% of them being hardware, while the other 6% of them being based on products and services.
- Consumer-focused startups: Their main goal into simplify and make things easy for consumers and be a part of their day-to-day life. Over 62% of the unicorns are particularly B2C companies. Another key ingredient is keeping their products and services affordable.
- Privately owned: Many known unicorn companies are nowadays privately owned which gets their valuation bigger when an established company invests in it. There are more than 361 private companies around the world valued at over $1 billion. India has 16 of these companies, that are taking up 4% of the overall share.
Popular unicorn companies outside the US

Key ingredients of a Unicorn
- To make a simple solution to an existing problem
- Make a strong and highly marketable value proposition
- Make a plan in order to have a clear vision for the future of the company and the products and services they offer
- Unicorn companies have Potential beta testers and customers
- They usually have an easy-to-use UX that allows users to quickly adapt and get the product.
Investors of the Unicorn Companies

Great ideas usually don’t have value until you do something with them, which is what the unicorns companies are good at as they have the right people, skills, tools, and data to make the magic happen. This is taken into consideration by the investors for deciding which startup to fund. It is very important to project revenue and growth.

Some projections need to be backed by hard data and the forecasting growth for the next 6, 12, or 18 months. If a startup in need of funding without any numbers to back up its claims, the potential investor may not be interested in good. Recent startups wait in order to seek out investors until they have a marketable product with proven demand as well as a number of opportunities coming your way.

Best startups of the decade which defined 2010

The mindset of the people has changed from, over the decade, as now people wantto be the boss of their own and don’t want to restrict themselves in the wallsof 9-to-5 jobs. This decade brought a hit of entrepreneurs and their startupswith amazing ideas and execution, that has helped people and ha…

StartupTalkyAshwini

Can Only Startups be a Unicorn?

The answer is yes because the unicorn is a term given only to startups who have a valuation of over a billion. The only startups that have a valuation of 10 billion are grouped under the term called decacon (which is a super unicorn). Dropbox, SpaceX, and WeWork are some examples of decacon.

For the startups that are based out of Canada, there is an exclusive term for what we call a unicorn. It is the narwhal. This means that any Canadian startup company with a valuation of over 1 billion is called a narwhal. Some of the famous narwhale companies are Hootsuite and Wattpad.

How to become a unicorn startup in 2020

Top 10 Most Highest Valued Startups in the world

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Which Indian Startups turned Unicorn 2021?

Indian Unicorn Startups 2021

Here’s the list of Top Unicorn Startups in India 2021

Disruption and Value Seeding

The main reason behind the growth and success of each and every unicorn is the disruptive impact it has on its chosen market. A well-known example of this is the on-demand taxi aggregator Uber. Uber uses smartphones as a medium to connect consumers with their nearby cab drivers at the touch of the button, the only reason that has driven the massive success that the company continues to enjoy.

Uber not only made booking a cab booking more convenient for the end-user but also headed more operational efficiency for cab drivers and taxi service providers by helping them optimize their revenue streams. As a result, the company is now one of the most successful unicorns with a valuation of 64.5 billion in 2020.

Market Size of the Unicorn Companies

It is important for startups aspiring to make the title of a unicorn in order to analyze the market they are operating in. Entrepreneurs must understand and analyze their target markets well in advance in order to aim for the title of a unicorn in order to analyze the markets they are operating in. They must analyze their target market and target audience well in advice before aiming to make their startups into the next big thing in the startup community.

An example of the is Airbnb. Founded as an alternative lodging/hotel solution for business travelers all over the world, the company then changed its approach to target the much larger global hotel industry, which is currently worth 550 million.

Where Can You Look For Ideas For Your Business

There are so many different factors that contribute to the success of your startup. Business idea is an important factor among them. It has an important role in creating sales and profits. Where can you look for ideas for your business? There are so many ways.

StartupTalkyATHUL C K

Maximizes Growth and Net Profit

There no fixed rule that requires a company to be profitable in order to become a unicorn. In fact one of the earliest unicorns, Nutanix earned the status in 2013 despite a complete lack of profits. The point is that profits and growth don’t always go hand in hand. In fact, going after profit can sometimes slow your ability to increase revenue.

The startups must work towards building sustainable growth rather than opting for a quick, short-sighted bump in profits. Instead of only focusing on growing your margins to impress investors with fast ROI, they must also focus on perfecting your product, increasing your total revenue, and growing your user base.

FAQ’s

What is a startup unicorn?

A term that describes a privately-owned startup with a valuation of over $1 billion.

What is a unicorn in a startup?

In finance, “unicorn” is a term that describes a privately-owned startup. The term was introduced by venture capital investor, Aileen Lee, in 2013 to describe rare tech startups that were valued at more than $1 billion. The phenomenon of unicorns is quite controversial.

Which Indian startup became unicorns in 2020?

In all, 11 Indian startups — Unacademy, Pine Labs, FirstCry, Zenoti, Nykaa, Postman, Zerodha, Razorpay, Cars24, Dailyhunt, and Glance — became unicorns this year.

Which is India’s fastest Unicorn startup?

Bengaluru and San Francisco-based SaaS startup Postman became the fastest SaaS startup to reach unicorn status. In June 2020, the six-year-old startup secured a Series C funding of $150 million at a valuation of $2 billion.

Which country has the most unicorns?

The number of unicorn companies found in China in early 2020 was bigger than those of 29 other countries, including Germany, India, and the UK, combined.

Conclusion

Hope you got an idea on how to build a unicorn startup & what are the unicorn startups’ characteristics. Startups into tech will now embrace machine intelligence mostly in its devices or products. Artificial intelligence is the future and is making innovations in the tech industry for years. But its presence will become more in the coming years. This in turn will give rise to unicorn startups which will dominant the startup industry. The moto is not to make unicorn startups but to create something that takes away the human effort by making the world a little better.
July 8, 2021

Drivezy – Self-driven Cars at the Most Affordable Prices!

When it comes to automobiles, millennials today do not believe in ownership and maintenance of their cars and bikes. They believe in renting, using, enjoying, and being merry! Exploiting this insight merely on its merit, Ashwarya Pratap Singh, Hemant Kumar Sah, Abhishek Mahajan, Vasant Verma, and Amit Sahu started Drivezy in the year 2015.

Drivezy (formerly JustRide) is India’s largest marketplace for car and two-wheeler sharing. Through Drivezy, travelers can book scooters, motorcycles and cars from people living around them.

Drivezy – Company Highlights

Startup Name	Drivezy
Headquarter	Bengaluru, India
Sector	Automotive ecommerce, Rental
Founders	Abhishek Mahajan, Amit Sahu, Ashwarya Pratap Singh, Hemant Kumar Sah, Vasant Verma
Founded	April 2015
Parent Organization	Drivezy India Travels Private Limited
Website	drivezy.com
Contact	support@drivezy.com

About Drivezy and How it Works
Founders of Drivezy and team
How was Drivezy Started?
Drivezy – Startup Launch
Drivezy – Business Model and Revenue Model
Drivezy – Startup Challenges
Drivezy – Competitors
Drivezy – Funding and Investors
Drivezy – Growth
Drivezy – Future Plans

About Drivezy and How it Works

All in all, Drivezy is a car rental platform. Car owners can list their vehicles on Drivezy when they are not using it and the customers can rent it whenever they want to. It offers the following features to the users:

Bookings can be done on the website or from the mobile application.
18+ is the legal age to book bikes and cars on Drivezy.
The users can book the vehicles on an hourly, daily, weekly basis. They also have the option of fuel or no fuel vehicle bookings.
The security deposit on Drivezy is minimal. It can range from INR 0 to INR 999.
Drivezy provides its customers with home pickup service.
Drivezy releases instant payments to the car owners and refunds to the consumers in the given case.

Founders of Drivezy and team

The Drivezy founders are Abhishek Mahajan, Amit Sahu, Ashwarya Pratap Singh, Hemant Kumar Sah, and Vasant Verma.

Ashwarya Pratap Singh, Co-founder and CEO of Drivezy – Ashwarya is a graduate in Electronics and Communication Engineering. Also an alumnus of Y Combinator batch of 2016 and the first batch of Google Launchpad. He served as a mentor at Launchpad during his post-Graduation.
Hemant Kumar, Co-founder of Drivezy – Before launching Drivezy, Kumar was an application developer at Service Now and a senior consultant at Oracle India before that. Kumar has graduated in B.tech from MNNIT.
Abhishek Mahajan, Co-founder of Drivezy – Graduated from IIT Bombay, Abhishek was an Associate Consultant at PwC India. He is also a CFA Level 2 candidate.
Vasant Verma, Co-founder and COO of Drivezy – Before Drivezy, Verma worked as a global market analyst at Nomura. Vasant Verma has a graduation degree in B.tech from MNNIT.
Amit Sahu, Co-founder of Drivezy – After graduating from the MNNIT, Allahabad, Sahu worked as a vehicle testing engineer in Honda R&D India Dept. Performance testing of Various cars would fall under his domain. After this, he went on to work at Drivezy.

How was Drivezy Started?

It all started when one of the co-founders Ashwarya Singh bought a new car that met with an accident in the early days itself. Singh didn’t use the car so much but still considerably spent a chunk of his salary in the maintenance of the car. This got him thinking about creating a platform where one could rent cars.

There was one more thought that drove the inception of Drivezy, then justride.in, that the majority of people in India can’t afford to buy cars. He then went on to discuss this idea with his college friends, now the co-founders and launched Drivezy in 2015 in Bangalore.

Drivezy – Startup Launch

Drivezy was previously called Just Ride. In 2017, the team thought of adding bikes to their range of products to expand and increase their user base. Drivezy works on a model where the ideal cars and bikes of the owners are listed with them and the vehicle owners can generate cash even when they are not using the bikes or cars. The individual owners of the commercial vehicles are also registering with Drivezy to make money.

Drivezy – Business Model and Revenue Model

The Drivezy business model works on commission. Drivezy lets the vehicle owners list their vehicles on their mobile applications. The company takes roughly 20-25% of the revenue pooled from renting this vehicle.

Drivezy – Startup Challenges

The first and foremost hurdle for Drivezy was the trust issues amongst the vehicle owners. They wouldn’t just rent their cars to random strangers. Though Drivezy provides guarantees, aggregator model, a peer-to-peer sharing model, and background checks of the users, this is a major challenge in the Indian markets.

The second hurdle was difficulty in leasing and buying of cars due to the financial problems.

With the onslaught of the coronavirus pandemic, most of the businesses that relied on transport and communication, and mobility found themselves on unstable grounds. Drivezy is not an exception and therefore, after bearing with the economic downturn for over a year, the Bengaluru-based car and bike rental startup has finally decided to be acquired by Yamaha. The size of the acquisition will range between $45-50 million, as per reports.

Drivezy – Competitors

Drivezy cars kind of operates in a perfectly competitive market. There’s immense competition in the market with major players having massive market standing. Drivezy in totality competes with taxi aggregators and ridesharing startups like Ola, Uber, Bounce, LetsRide, PoolCircle, ZoomCar, Carzonrent, Wunder, and Ryde among others.

Drivezy – Funding and Investors

When it comes to funding, Drivezy has raised a total of $149.3M in funding over 10 rounds from various investors including Das Capital, Axon Partners, IT-Farm, Yamaha Motor Ventures, and Y Combinator, among others.

Here is a list of all the funding rounds of Drivezy:

Date	Stage	Amount	Investors
August 2015	Angel Round	$1 million	Anirudh Damani, Alok Mittal, Niraj Singh
November 2015	Seed Round	$2 million	–
March 2016	Series A	$400K	Dheeraj Jain
August 2016	Venture Round	$120K	Y Combinator
November 2016	Venture Round	$3 million	Susa Ventures, Kima Ventures, Axon Ventures, SCM Holdings and ITFarm from Japan
October 2017	Venture Round	$10 million	Das Capital
February 2018	Initial COin Offering	$5 million	Susa Ventures, Kima Ventures, Axon Ventures and other exiting investors along with other HNIs from Japan and Singapore
April 20, 2018	Second Round of Initial COin Offering	$8 million	Susa Ventures, Kima Ventures, Axon Ventures and other exiting investors along with other HNIs from Japan and Singapore
November 2018	Series B	$20 million	IT-Farm, Das Capital, Yamaha
November 2018	Debt Financing	$100 million	AnyPay

The company, since inception, had raised total funding of $49.45 million before closing the huge asset financing deal. In 2018, Drivezy secured $100 Mn in an asset financing deal with which the Drivezy team plans to induct close to 50,000 vehicles. The company had raised an amount close to $149.3 million.

Drivezy – Name, Tagline, and Logo

The company’s tagline is “Drive It Like You Own It!”

Drivezy Logo

As pioneers in the Indian self drive car rental industry, the company believes in the mantra- “Why buy a car, when you can rent one?”.

Drivezy – Growth

Drivezy’s growth is coming at what seems to be a key inflection point for the transportation industry. The company claims to have a customer base of about 1.5 million registered users and with around 93% of them coming from the 18-35 age bracket. Cofounder Ashwarya Singh told that it has processed over 4 lakh bookings, and has 500 employees in 11 cities.

Operating cities- 21 cities of India
Average monthly customers- 2,00,000
Average monthly pending requests- 2300
Average monthly revenue- $150,000
Average monthly GMV- $950,000

The company earns a 15-30% commission for every successful transaction. In FY18, it clocked a GMV (Gross Merchandising Value) of $32 Million, growing by 200% since 2017.

Drivezy – Future Plans

Drivezy clocked gross sales of $32 million in 2018 and is targeting $80 million in 2019. Besides this, the company plans to launch in the US by starting with a fleet of 200 cars in San Francisco. Drivezy also plans to lunch its operations in Southeast Asia soon.

Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs

How does Drivezy work?

Car owners can list their vehicles on Drivezy when they are not using it and the customers can rent it whenever they want to and they will be required to pay a nominal amount for every km travelled. The user will get the vehicle with full fuel tank and He/She has to return it with the same fuel level.

How much can I earn with Drivezy?

Drivezy claims that owners can earn up to INR 30,000/month by leasing out their vehicles.

Who are the Drivezy owners?

The Drivezy founders are Abhishek Mahajan, Amit Sahu, Ashwarya Pratap Singh, Hemant Kumar Sah, and Vasant Verma.

July 6, 2021

Travis Kalanick: Co-Founder & Former CEO of Uber

Travis Kalanick is an American Businessman, who co-founded the ride sharing and food delivering company, Uber and served as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) from 2010 to 2017. He is also the Co-founder of the multimedia internet search engine, Scour Incorporation. He also co-founded a peer-to-peer file sharing company, Red Swoosh. He is ranked 238th on the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans with an estimated net worth of $3 billion, as of 2020.

Travis Kalanick- Biography

Name	Travis Kalanick
Born	6 August, 1976
Birthplace	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Age	45 (2020)
Nationality	American
Education	University of California, Los Angeles
Profession	Internet Entrepreneur
Position	Co-founder of Uber; Co-founder of Red Swoosh
Net worth	$3 billion (2020)
Political Party	Libertarian
Father	Donald Edward Kalanick
Mother	Bonnie Renee Horowitz Kalanick

Travis Kalanick- Personal Life
Travis Kalanick- Education
Travis Kalanick- Professional Life
Travis Kalanick- Co-founder of Scour
Travis Kalanick- Co-founder of Red Swoosh
Travis Kalanick- Co-founder & CEO of Uber
Travis Kalanick- Business idea

Travis Kalanick- Personal Life

Travis was raised in Northridge, California. His father Donald Edward Kalanick was a Civil Engineer for the city of Los Angeles. His mother, Bonnie Renee Horowitz Kalanick worked in retail advertising for the Los Angeles Daily News. His mother died in 2017 and he has two half-sisters, Anji and Allisyn Ashley Arm, who is a Hollywood actress. He has a brother named Cory, who is a firefighter.

Travis Kalanick- Education

Travis pursued computer engineering and business economics from the University of California, Los Angeles. He was a member of Theta Xi fraternity and founded his first business, Scout which was an online file-exchange startup. He dropped out from the University in 1998 to focus at his startup full-time.

Travis Kalanick- Professional Life

The rise and fall of Uber’s Former CEO, Travis Kalanick

Travis, along with CEOs of major American companies, served as the Economic advisor to President Trump in 2016. However, he stepped down from the Council owing to the difference in opinions with the President Trump. During his tenure at Uber as CEO, it is believed that he knew about sexual harassment allegations at Uber and took no action against it. This is the reason, he was asked to give resignation from his CEO position at the company.

On 7 March, 2018, he declared that he would start a venture fund, 10100 (ten-one-hundred) with an aim to improve employment opportunities by investing in e-commerce, innovation and real estate in leading markets like, China and India. He then invested $150 million in a company called City Storage Systems, focused on the redevelopment of distressed real estate assets. He further capitalized on major food delivery sectors as well.

He serves on an advisory board for Neom, Saudi Arabia’s plan to build an innovatory “mega city” in the desert.

Travis Kalanick- Co-founder of Scour

Travis dropped out of his university with his friend Michael Todd and Vince Busan to help Dan Rodrigues establish his startup, Scour Incorporation in 1998. It was basically a multimedia search engine. They also founded Scour Exchange, which was a peer-to-peer file sharing service.

The company closed its services after the Motion Picture Association of Americs (MPAA), the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) proposed a $250 million lawsuit against Scour with copyright infringement allegations. However, Scour filed for bankruptcy to protect itself from the lawsuit in September 2000.

Travis Kalanick- Co-founder of Red Swoosh

Travis started another peer-to-peer file sharing company, Red Swoosh in 2001 with Michael Todd. The company worked on improving its software through increased bandwidth efficiency on the internet to let users transfer and trade large media files like, music files and videos.

The former Scour employees also served for Red Swoosh. Reportedly, Travis worked for Red Swoosh without salary for over three years. He owed “$110,00 to the IRS in un-withheld income taxes.” It has been said that he committed tax and securities fraud and mendacity during the IRS investigation, blaming Michael Todd. However, either of them wasn’t prosecuted.

Red Swoosh was acquired by Akamai Technologies in 2007 for $19 million but somehow facilitated securities fraud with Travis by failing to pay all shareholders.

Travis Kalanick- Co-founder & CEO of Uber

Travis became the CEO of Uber in October 2010, succeeding Ryan Graves, who held the CEO position for about ten months.

It has been announced that he would take an indefinite leave of absence from Uber. On 20 June, 2017, he resigned as CEO after five major investors demanded his resignation. Although he continued to sit on Uber’s board of directors. However, Dara Khosrowshahi took his position of CEO in August 2017.

Travis resigned from the Board on 31 December, 2019. Post the resignation, he sold off more than $2.5 billion of Uber stock holding which included about 90% of his shares.

Travis Kalanick- Business idea

Travis deliberately credits Garnett Camp for inventing the idea that led to the establishment of Uber. He asserts that the idea was originated in 2009 by Garnett Camp, with whom Travis used to work. Camp is the co-founder of StumbleUpon, and he once spent $800 hiring a private driver with friends. Since then, he has been contemplating ways to decrease the cost of taxis. He then thought of sharing the cost with people to make it affordable and the idea eventually morphed into Uber.

FAQs

Who is Travis Kalanick?

Travis Kalanick is an American Businessman, who co-founded the ride sharing and food delivering company, Uber and served as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) from 2010 to 2017.

What is the net worth of Travis Kalanick?

Travis Kalanick net worth is 280 crores

Does Travis still own Uber?

April 9, 2021

What led Uber, Lyft to Build a Database of Drivers?
Uber and Lyft are working together in creating a database of their drivers. They are creating a database of the drivers who have been accused of sexual assault from the customers. They are taking the list of drivers who have been banned from the platform for sexual assaults and other crimes.

They are creating a database of people who have raised passenger-safety concerns in their platform. This safety programme is done because of the promise made by Uber, they will look into the crimes related to sexual assault. 15 months ago, they had revealed around 3,000 sexual assault cases had been reported on the company’s platform by passengers.

Let’s look at the new initiative taken by Uber and Lyft towards increasing customer safety.

Database of drivers
Reason for Creating a Database of drivers
Increased safety of their customers
Advantage for other Companies
FAQ

Database of drivers

The database developed by Uber and Lyft will contain information about the drivers who have been banned from the platform. Due to their involvement in sexual assaults and other crimes.

In the initial stages, Uber and Lyft will list the drivers who have been banned by the platforms in the U.S. This database will be overseen by the company HireRight. HireRight is a company that specializes in background checks and they will take care of getting more detailed information about the drivers and listing them on the database.

Reason for Creating a Database of drivers

Uber and Lyft have been criticized in the past by U.S lawmakers regarding the safety concerns for their passengers. Since then both the companies Uber and Lyft are working together towards antitrust and privacy-related concerns.

Sharing the information about the sexual assault faced by passengers by the drivers is really important. Most of the time the victims don’t file a formal complaint against the drivers. This acts as an advantage for the drivers who have been involved in those crimes and they easily escape from facing the consequences for their actions.

These drivers would easily shift from one platform to another as there are no legal procedures and actions taken against them. This would increase such crimes and the safety of the customers would be at risk.

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Increased safety of their customers

This database platform is mainly concentrated on increasing the safety of the customers. This will make the companies in selecting the right drivers for their companies which will increase the safety of the customers.

Uber and Lyft have said that they would maintain the privacy of the victims, and wouldn’t provide any information about the victims of the incidents.

They have categorized the incidents for dismissing the drivers in six different categories which are
- Attempted non-consensual sexual penetration
- Non-consensual touching of a sexual body part
- Non-consensual kissing of a sexual body part
- Non-consensual kissing of a non-sexual body part
- Non-consensual sexual penetration
- Fatal physical assaults
Uber and Lyft have said that only a very small amount of the drivers have been involved in behaviors that are listed in the above categories. Hence, the companies who have access to the database can allow drivers to provide services for their platform after their own background checks and investigations.

What women are experiencing during the rides

The Indian Automobile Industry Analysis 101 :Everything you need to know

The Indian automobile industry is the world’s fourth-biggest, auto mobileindustry after the USA. It is presently the world’s fourth-biggest producer ofvehicles and 7th biggest producer of industrial automobiles .The size of theIndian automobile industry includes aspect manufacturing which is anti…

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Advantage for other Companies

The Companies which are involved in food deliveries, e-commerce deliveries, and companies involved in similar business models would get access to the database. Since there is a third-party company that specializes in background checks, the companies will be able to get detailed information about their drivers.

Any company that has access to the information in the database is free to hire those drivers according to their own background checks. This database will help the companies in maintaining their goodwill and increasing the safety of their customers.

This added layer of protection is being added because of the criticization made by Rape, Abuse, and Incent National network. It is a victim’s rights group which stated that the platforms are not doing a proper screening of their drivers.

FAQ

Who are the Founders of Uber?

Travis Kalanick, Garrett Camp are the founders of Uber.

What is the valuation of Uber?

As of May, 2019 Uber’s valuation was $75billion.

Who is the founder of Lyft?

Logan Green and John Zimmer are the founders of Lyft.

Conclusion

Uber has been asked to pay a fine of $59 million by California’s Public Utility Commission. When Uber had released the details of the past abuses faced by the customers, the commission had asked for the details of the victims. Uber refused to provide the details of the customers as it wanted to maintain the privacy of their customers and hence the company was asked to pay a fine.

Lyft is waiting for Uber to solve the issue related to privacy concerns so that they can release the reports about the past issues faced by their customers. This joint initiative from both the companies can be really helpful for a lot of companies and make the customers using their platform to feel more secure and safe.
March 16, 2021
Indian Automobile Industry Analysis

The Indian automobile industry is the world’s fourth-biggest, auto mobile industry after the USA. It is presently the world’s fourth-biggest producer of vehicles and 7th biggest producer of industrial automobiles .The size of the Indian automobile industry includes aspect manufacturing which is anticipated to attain Rs16.16-18.18 trillion ($ 251.4-282.eight billion) through 2026.

Two-wheelers dominate the enterprise and made up 80% of the home car income in FY19.Overall, Domestic car income multiplied at 6.71% CAGR among FY13-18 with 26.27 million automobiles was bought in FY19.Indian car enterprise has obtained Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) worth US$ 23.51 billion among April 2000 and September 2019.

Indian automobile industry growth recorded a boom in home income at 17.55%, accompanied by three-wheelers at 10.27% .The passenger automobile income in India crossed 3.37 million gadgets in FY19 and is similarly anticipated to boom to 10 million gadgets through FY20.Passenger automobile exports are anticipated to touch approximately 6,90,000 gadgets in 2019-20.

Indian Automobile Market by Vehicle type

COVID 19 automobile industry impact

Indian Automotive Industry, unfortunately, is going through a hard time. Due to COVID-19, New Emission norms, Weak client, and monetary sentiments, Coronavirus will extrude the future of the automobile organization and is forecasted to offer a protracted-lasting impact on a massive scale.

CarDekho Company Profile – Displaying Almost Anything and Everything About Automobiles

Buying a car used to be very difficult before the internet age because theindustry was just too scattered. Today we have a lot of online portals that willtake you through the process effortlessly. One such portal is CarDekho. Founded by Amit Jain and Anurag Jain in 2008, Cardekho is a car search …

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The dreary fact is that March and April remained the most tough months of 2020 for the auto sector, for the 40 days lockdown produced nil earnings and zero manufacturing. However, OEMs gave monetary beneficial resource and helped dealers to route out of these tough times.

Indian automobile industry slowdown

Demand for emblem new cars declined sharply in 2019, forcing automakers to reduce manufacturing throughout the year. Sales had been anticipated to revive in the festive season from October 2019 however they did not do so. In fact, there has been an encouraging spike in income in Q3 – inspired through promotional offers, competitive discounts, new version launches, and the growing availability of fashions supplying Bharat Stage-VI (BS-VI) emission standard.

Government Objectives for the Indian automobile industry

Government of India has shortlisted 11 towns for the advent of electrical automobiles (EVs). The Government plans to start with a delivery structure FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid) and Electric Vehicles in India) scheme.

The first section of the scheme had been prolonged to March 2019.The Government of India accredited the FAME-II scheme with a financial requirement of Rs10,000 crore which sums up to ($ 1.39 billion) for FY20-22.Under Union Budget 2019-20, the authorities introduced to offer extra profits tax deduction of Rs1.five lakh ($ 2146) on the loans taken to buy EVs.

Under FAME II, Government has sanctioned 5,595 e-buses in 64 towns in 26 states for inter-metropolis and intra-metropolis operations. Under the scheme, 2,636 charging stations in 62 towns throughout 24 States/UTs have been sanctioned.

Indian Passenger Vehicle Market Share

Moderating Economic Growth

The worldwide monetary slowdown has impacted the Indian automobile sector (and Europe and China).India’s GDP increase in Q3 2019 fell to 4.5% from 5% in Q2, and from 7.1% a 12 months ago, on account of decreased customer spending and reduced personal investment. A depressed rural monetary system with the decrease annual rainfall maintains to have a vast effect on two-wheeler demand.

Growing unemployment and a moderating monetary system led humans to delay car buying for decisions. According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), the unemployment charge became into at 8.5% in October 2019, the very best while you recall that August 2016.The International Monetary Fund has reduced its increased forecast for the Indian monetary system from 7% to 6.1% in 2020.

Everything you need to know : The car sales in India in 2020 , Corona virus, Two wheeler, four wheeler

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Growing Competition

In spite of the plain slow down, MG Motors (an element of SAIC Group), BYD, and different main Chinese OEMs alongside with Changan Automobile and Great Wall Motors have critical funding plans for India and are showcasing their proposed fashions at this year’s Delhi Auto show.

Bucking the trend MG Motors and Korean automaker Kia Motors have had sturdy launches in their latest SUV fashions, receiving great orders months in advance.With the multiplied opposition in passenger vehicles in 2020, Counterpoint estimates those new automakers will nibble away at Maruti Suzuki’s and Tata Motors’ marketplace shares.

Growing Popularity of Shared Mobility

Shared mobility companies keep to dent the name for passenger cars in city areas, with human beings an increasing number of more who prefer shared-mobility offerings for his or her commute.

Based on variety one studies performed withinside the America of America in 2019, Counterpoint Research estimates out of 3 common customers of shared mobility offerings recollect ride-hailing more economical than proudly owning a car.Leading gamers Ola and Uber have plans to increase offerings similarly into tier-2 and tier-three towns withinside the following couple of years.

Cautious Lending through NBFCs

Non-banking monetary companies (NBFCs) finance maximum automobile purchases and are used mainly in rural India. Dealers depend on NBFCs to fund their wholesale shopping of cars from OEMs. The problems surrounding India’s NBFCs introduced careful lending that has adversely affected car income in 2019 and suggests no signs and symptoms of improvement.

Sellers have approached India’s Finance Industry Development Council, searching for authorities intervention to enhance the monetary health of main NBFCs. Overall for 2020, Counterpoint Research’s car income forecast for India stays careful, with numerous factors – mainly tight credit score conditions, the moderating economic system, and the transition to BS-VI emissions standards – growing uncertainty, boundaries, and delays.

October 22, 2020
Uber: Mumbai Office Shuts Down, Services For Riders Will Be Unaffected

Uber has taken a decision to permanently close it’s Mumbai office as a part of the ride-hailing company’s decision to close around 45 branches of Uber globally. However, employees will work from home until December.

Uber Not Coming Up With A Proper Statement

Uber Mumbai Office shuts down

When people tried to contact the spokesperson of Uber he stated, “Uber continues to provide a high level of service to all its riders in Mumbai”.

Gurugram consists of one branch of Uber which is a big one and Uber is also having its technology centers in cities like Bengaluru and Hyderabad. It also consists of small support offices in many cities in India.

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Arch Rival Ola Also Facing the Same Type Of Crisis

Uber’s arch-rival Ola has also fired around 1400 employees in May due to the same pandemic situation. Ride-hailing Competitor Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal also stated that companies condition is “very unclear and uncertain.”

Adding to it Aggarwal said, “It is going to take a long time for people to go out and about like before. With more companies preferring to have a large number of employees work from home, air travel limited to essential trips and vacations being put off for better times, the impact of this crisis is definitely going to be long-drawn for us.”

Fired Around 25% of Employees Globally

In May Dara Khosrowshai, CEO Uber wrote to all the Uber employees that they are taking a decision to shut down around 45 Uber branches globally. This step has been taken due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Uber also fired around 3700 employees in may which constituted around 25% of the workforce of the company.

“We have made the incredibly difficult decision to reduce our workforce by around 3,000 people, and to reduce investments in several non-core projects, “said the Uber CEO in May hinting the outcomes.

Till now around 6000 employees of Uber has been fired since the start of the pandemic which is creating a difficult situation for the company.

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India Consisting Around 8% Of Total Global Employees

India consists of around 8% of the total global employees of Uber. Also, Uber gave a statement that they will be laying off around 600 employees in the departments such as customer and driver support, business development, legal, finance, policy, and marketing verticals.

“We began 2020 on an accelerated path to total company profitability. Then the coronavirus hit us with once-in-a-generation public health and economic crisis,” Khosrowshahi said in May.

Uber Eats Can Be A Silver Lining

Uber eats can be a silver lining

“If there is one silver lining regarding this crisis, it is that Eats has become an even more important resource for people at home and for restaurants,” he said hoping a better future for Uber Eats. “We no longer need to look far for the next enormous growth opportunity, we are sitting right on top of one.”

Although he has said that the profit they hope to gain from Uber eats would not help in the loss they are facing due to their cabs services. He has also warned that the profit can not be earned overnight.

Uber globally also faced a huge loss of around $2.9 billion in the first quarter of 2020. In 2019 they were having a growth rate of around 14% from $3.1 billion to around $3.54 billion.

July 4, 2020
Top Companies Providing Contactless Services to its Customers
As we look forward to the next normal, customers are already indicating a preference for companies who delivering contactless services by taking care of proper safety measures, reducing risk all along the customer journey. Companies are moving forward quickly to institute new policies that will allow them to resume their operations post COVID-19

As India is going into a recovery phase, all its companies are looking for ways to provide goods and services seamlessly to its customers keeping in mind the safety of both its customers as well as its employees. Here is what the big companies are planning to do to provide a contactless service to its customers.

1. McDonald’s

Westlife Development, the company that owns and operates McDonald’s restaurants in India has launched fully contactless take-outs in selected cities. The company stated that this move is aimed at providing a safe, hygienic, and convenient food take-outs for its customers who decide to step out of their homes to avail essential services. This contactless service delivered by McDonald’s allows its customers to place their take-out orders from their preferred stores ( nearest McDonald’s restaurant), pay online, and pick-up their order from the take-out counter on their way to home or work.

The company ensured that the entire process from placing the order till receiving the order will be completely safe, contactless, and with adequate social distancing at every step. The company was one of the first QSR brands to resume their services with contactless deliveries and are currently delivering out of more than 150 delivery hubs.

McDonald’s contactless policy

Also Read: How to Provide a Contactless Experience to your Customers

How Does This Contactless Service Works?
- Open the McDonald’s app and select the take-out option.
- Select the preferred store for the take-out ( nearest restaurant).
- Order your meal and pay online.
- Collect your order at the take-out counter at the restaurant
1. Swiggy-Zomato-Dunzo

The Directorate General of civil aviation (DCGA) has given permission to Swiggy, Zomato, and Dunzo to deliver the products to its customers using Drones. This will mark the first step in India’s plan to develop local drone-based services capabilities. This will set a benchmark for other companies as this will be the most appropriate method for contactless delivery. All these companies launched ‘contactless delivery’ in early March when India had less than 100 cases of the novel coronavirus. The companies continued their services throughout the pandemic with safety and hygiene measures being taken by their employees. As the cases in India have crossed lakhs and the fact that the virus’s impact is going to continue in the near future too, made these delivery startups to take the bold decision of serving its customers through drones.

“We will start flying in the first week of July and plan the clock around 120 hours of flights in two and a half months.”

said Nagendra Kandasamay, founder and director of Throttle Aerospace, which received approval from the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation in March along with Dunzo. India is looking at these experiments as a way to fast-pace its policies and preparing the local industrial sector to push into the drone service segment on a global basis.

Volume of drones in Amazon’s fleet from 2016-2020 (per 1000 people)

Also Read: The Role Of Drones In The Upcoming Future

2. Uber-Ola

After four iterations of nationwide lockdown, the Indian government has lifted the restrictions from public transports as well. As public transportation services resume, Uber and Ola have come up with guidelines using which they will be rendering service to its customers in a ‘contactless’ way. With the fear of contagion of the virus being in the people’s minds, these companies have released guidelines using which a person can travel confidently. The things to be taken care of while using cabs are:
- The driver should ensure that there are only two passengers traveling in the cab at a time
- Wearing of masks is essential
- Cab users can only occupy the back seats
- Both Uber and Ola will need to discontinue their pooling services,i.e. Uber pool, and Ola pool
- Cabs should be disinfected after every ride
- Both the drivers and the customers should maintain hygiene inside the cab.
Keeping in mind the Government policies, Uber also issued some guidelines which were also reflected on the Uber app.

a) Checklists

The online checklist available on the app cross-checks that both the driver and the customer are taking required precautions before requesting/accepting the ride.

b) Mask Verification

Uber is urging the drivers to click a selfie with a mask on before accepting a ride and also allows the driver to cancel a request if they feel that the customer is not wearing a mask.

c) Free Cancellation

The updated policy for cancellation by the company now allows the passenger to cancel the ride anytime if they feel that precautions are not being taken by the driver. The driver has the same rights to cancel under such circumstances.

Similarly, Ola cabs have also taken such measures to ensure the safety of both its drivers as well as the customers.

Conclusion

As India struggles to get back the normalcy, the government, as well as the different sectors, are coming up with policies and guidelines for its citizens who do not have the luxury of staying at their homes and have to come out of their houses to do their respective jobs and duties.
June 4, 2020