EASY TAXI GETS NEW IMAGE MAKER IN NIGERIA.
Land transport fir,Easy Taxi Nigeria now have a new image
maker.
She is Miss Tracy E.Oyekanmi who was until very recently
with one of Nigeria’s most respected public Relations firm, JSP Corporate
Communications Consulting where she had an opportunity working for some of the
biggest brands in the field of strategic marketing, community relations, propaganda,
event management ,online marketing among other initiatives,before crossing over into the organization couple of weeks ago
Easy Taxi is at the moment in not less than 30 nations
around the world where it operates its car hire ,rental and lease business.
Easy Taxi is a mobile E-hailing application available in 30 countries.[1] The app allows users to book a taxi and track it in real time.[2] The same iOS, Android, or Windows Phone app can be used in all places in which the partner taxis operate.[3] Easy Taxi was founded in 2011 in Brazil and has since expanded globally, covering the network of 30 countries and more than 420 cities.[4] As of December 2014, the company reported it reached the number of 17 million users and more than 400,000 taxi drivers[5] are affiliated with an Easy Taxi network.
The startup is backed primarily by the biggest e-Commerce incubator in the world,[6] Rocket Internet (Zalando, Jumia, Jovago...), but also other investors, including Millicom[7] and iMENA[8] secure Easy Taxi's foothold in emerging markets. The four latest series of investment took Easy Taxi to over $77 million in backing.[9]
History
The original idea emerged in early 2011 from the founders, Tallis Gomes and Daniel Cohen. According to Gomes, the main trigger for starting the company was inefficiency of the taxi transportation he experienced in Rio de Janeiro during one of the startup events:I was attending an event for start-ups in Leblon and I was waiting for a taxi for about half an hour on a rainy night. At that time I was planning to create a bus monitoring application, but I changed my mind and decided to invest in this solution.[10]The concept was first presented to the public during the Startup Weekend RIO 2011. After winning the entire competition, in the same year the company won Startup Farm Rio contest and entered the group of five finalists selected from scores of entrants in the IBM-backed SmartCamp competition.[11] Together with other finalists, Easy Taxi was invited to the high-tech conference in Rio, which brought together business leaders and government officials interested in solving urban problems.
The application was launched in beta version in August 2011,[12] following two-month-long introductory phase.[13] Daniel Cohen, Vinicius Gracia, Bernardo Bicalho, and Marcio William joined Gomes at company’s early stages, forming its first team.[12] [14] Rio de Janeiro served as a test market for Easy Taxi, with an official launch of the app in April 2012.[15] The initial business model was based on charging the driver R$2 per each completed ride.[16] Within the first year of operations, the company managed to acquire more than 5000 drivers and 200,000 users.[17] Upon entering São Paulo, Alex Tabor, an angel investor from Peixe Urbano, supported the company with first major funding.[12] The real turning point came with the first round of investment of $4.9 million from Rocket Internet in October 2012.[15] The fresh inflow of funds allowed Easy Taxi to expand abroad to its first international market, Mexico.[14] On 24 June 2013, Easy Taxi received Series B investment from Latin America Internet Holding (LIH) a joint venture between Rocket Internet and Millicom, securing another $15 million.[18] At that time the company stated it had more than 1 million downloads and 30000 drivers in the network. The new funds were intended for international expansion in Asia and LATAM, improved customer service and new features. Following the capital injection, the company entered several new markets, including Malaysia (July 2013),[19] Philippines and Thailand (August 2013),[20] Hong Kong,[21] and Taiwan (October 2013).[22] Another, $10 million round of funding and a plan to tackle a new market – Africa, were announced in July 2013.[23] The joint venture responsible for the investment was Africa Internet Group, backed by Rocket Internet and its 35% owner, telecoms operator Millicom.
In October 2013, Rocket Internet and iMENA Holding partnered together, launching the app in the Middle East and North Africa. The investment amounted to $7 million and was intended for the app's regional rollout, which started in Saudi Arabia.[24] On launching in Nigeria, the company has also announced its plans to enter Ghana, Egypt, Morocco, Ivory Coast, and South Africa towards the end of 2013.[25] The original concept of prioritizing markets that have urban mobility problems and experience inefficiency in their transportation systems[10] still constitutes an integral part of the expansion strategy of Easy Taxi with nearly all of its markets belonging to the group of emerging economies.
Features and functionality
Easy Taxi can be used on Android,[26] iOS,[27] Windows Phone[28] and Blackberry 10[29] devices. The “Request taxi” button triggers the scanner, which finds partner cabs within certain radius of a location. The nearby taxi drivers, equipped with smartphones, can accept a ride or reject it. The first driver in the target area will be assigned to the user, who receives a confirmation with the name and car of the driver, as well as his number plate, photo and cellphone number. The app allows the user to track the driver in the real-time, using the in-built map. One can save favorite addresses and check ride history. The driver version of the app is available only on Android devices. Apart from accepting rides, the driver can send arrival alerts and boarding notifications to the passenger. Drivers might call the passengers and use the in-built navigation support with either Google Navigation or Waze.[30] While booking the cab, the user can also add additional “Tip” for the driver. The app enables country-specific features, such as “Airport taxi” or “Excess luggage”, and offers a cashless in-app payment solution.[31]The company offers ETPro solution, designed for bars, hotels, and establishments as a desktop equivalent of the mobile application. ETPro can book up to 5 passengers and can only be used upon registering the account.[32]
It also offers a corporate solution allowing payment via the app. This solution allows monthly invoicing and control of taxi expenses, reducing up to 40% of taxi cost to the company.[33]
Languages and localization
Easy Taxi is available in 11 languages – English, Portuguese, Spanish, Korean, Thai, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Tagalog, Malaysian, Vietnamese and Arabic. The language and currency settings are adjusted automatically based on the language detected in the phone and the user interface is similar across all the countries.[34]Awards
The company won multiple awards as a pioneer in taxi call service in Latin America. This includes Startup Weekend RIO 2011, IBM SmartCamp Brazil 2011, Startup Farm RIO 2011 and TNW Brazil Awards.[35]It was featured as Best App of 2014 in App Store[36][37] and Google Play.[38]
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