New Delhi : In the first merger and acquisition (M&A) in the taxi service aggregator space, Ola Cabs today acquired TaxiForSure for $ 200 million in a cash-and-equity deal.
With the acquisition, Ola, which is already the market leader in the personal transportation space with over 1 lakh vehicles, has significantly grown its footprint with TaxiForSure’s operator-led model. The move will also up the competition with rivals Meru Cabs and Uber.
Ola and TaxiForSure will continue to operate as separate entities. The leadership and all of the 1700 employees shall continue to work with TaxiForSure, with Arvind Singhal, the current chief operating officer at TaxiForSure being appointed the CEO post. Aprameya Radhakrishna and Raghunandan G, the founders of TaxiForSure, will contribute in an advisory role for a certain period .
TaxiForSure currently operates in 47 cities with over 15,000 vehicles registered on its platform.
“There is significant complementary value that this acquisition adds both on the supply and demand side for Ola and TaxiForSure as the latter follows a different model of supply and distribution by working with cab operators compared to Ola’s model of working with driver-entrepreneurs. TaxiForSure has also focused heavily on the economy segment of cab consumers with innovative offerings like Tata Nanos as part of their fleet and Rs 49 as base fares in the past. For customers, drivers and operators on the TaxiForSure platform, nothing will change. Customers can continue to book a cab through the app and call centre and drivers will continue to get access to customers on TaxiForSure’s technology platform as always,” Ola said in a statement.