Auto giant Volkswagen has announced a $300 million investment in Israeli ride-hailing startup Gett (formerly Get Taxi). The strategic investment comes on the heels of Toyota’s backing of the U.S. ride-hailing app Uber.
General Motors injected $500 million into Lyft, another U.S. ride-hailing app, in January.
VW wants “to go beyond vehicle ownership,” Gett founder and CEO Shahar Waiser told Business Insider.
In fact, the three carmakers’ investments seem to show that they are focusing on new technology and the future of personal transport.
Waiser said that Gett’s big data and predictive algorithm technologies could help VW in the development of self-driving vehicles.
“The Volkswagen Group and Gett is a great strategic partnership. The pay-per-ride domain is growing rapidly. In that context, Gett provides VW with the technology to expand beyond car ownership to on-demand mobility for consumers and businesses,” Waiser added.
The ride-hailing market represents the greatest market potential in on-demand mobility, while creating the technological platform for developing tomorrow’s mobility business models, the Volkswagen Group said in a statement.
VW says its goal is to generate a substantial share of sales revenue from such new business models by 2025.
“Alongside our pioneering role in the automotive business, we aim to become a world leading mobility provider by 2025,” said Matthias Müller, chairman of Volkswagen Group’s Board of Management. “Within the framework of our future Strategy 2025, the partnership with Gett marks the first milestone for the Volkswagen Group on the road to providing integrated mobility solutions that spotlight our customers and their mobility needs.”
And though reports of a decline in tech investments have swirled in the first quarter, this latest investment round seems to paint a different picture.
Gett launched as Get Taxi in Israel in 2010. With VW’s investment, the company has raised $520 million.
Gett currently operates in 60 European cities as well as New York City. The new funding will help facilitate faster expansion.
In March, Gett acquired Radio Taxis, the British black cab company in a deal worth “several million pounds.” The Israeli company now has a fleet of 11,500 London licensed taxicabs, almost 50 percent of the black cabs in the city.
The embedded video below explains the difference between Gett and Uber.
(via Israel21c)
[Photo: Israel21c ]