Olacabs raised 250 crores (~$41mn), TaxiForSure raised $10mn recently and Uber launched UberX in India. Great for consumers. A lot of VC money will now be used to discount your travel, which is good (for you).
How is how online players stack against each other and take a look at how Meru, which has been the leading cab company is being disrupted (though they are fighting back with great energy!).
Take a look at data from Google Trends* to gauge search interest in these companies.
2012
There is only Meru.
2013
Initial signs of disruption, or rather existence of online players?
2014
Somebody is being disrupted?
Ofcourse, a lot of transactions happen on apps, so here are some quick stats for your eyes:
| Name* | Installs | Average Rating | Number of Ratings |
| TaxiForSure | 100,000 – 500,000 | 3.9 | 2927 |
| Olacabs | 100,000 – 500,000 | 4 | 3092 |
| Meru | 100,000 – 500,000 | 4.2 | 6012 |
Meru continues to be the consumer brand, while most of the other players haven’t yet cracked the market (though have grabbed massive valuation). Though there is a rush to go to Tier-2 markets, we really wonder if they have got the playbook ready in Tier-1?
Will VC money drive a price war? Is that the only way to crack the market? In fact, Meru/Easycab etc are more expensive. But they have built a great brand recall because of the service they provide (and partnerships they have that bring them both traction and visibility). They probably didn’t care much about valuation (read : The Success Story of Meru Cabs – Case Study For Entrepreneurs).
* : We looked at Google Trends data and not site traffic, because the latter can be easily bought.
** : Uber doesn’t have any India specific app. Their global numbers will dward all, hence not included.
Ashiish K Sinha
