MADRID (Reuters) – The ride-hailing app Cabify, considered one of Spain’s few ‘unicorn’ tech startups, risks losing floor to overseas rivals comparable to Uber or Bolt in its home base Madrid due to a row over exclusivity with an organization which employs 1,100 of its drivers.
Entrepreneur Felix Ruiz, co-founder of the privately-held agency Auro which owns the vehicles and licences and employs the drivers, instructed Reuters Auro had determined to swap them to both Uber or Bolt or each from Jan. 20.
The Spanish firm may fall to No.2 in its home turf, as Cabify and Uber have about the identical market share in Madrid, in accordance to Auro estimates.
Uber and Cabify declined to touch upon their respective market shares.
On Monday, Cabify stated that an arbitration court docket ruling in June obliged Auro’s fleet to hold working with the app, however Ruiz, though acknowledging that Cabify had gained the arbitration, stated the contract with Cabify had been cancelled and his firm was ready to defend its resolution in courts.
Ruiz doubted the 2 may nonetheless attain an settlement.
“We aren’t aligned,” he stated, including that he thought of Cabify’s rival Uber to be “extra environment friendly as its algorithm permits for greater earnings”, whereas Bolt’s benefit was charging much less in a bid to acquire market share.
Auro’s pool of two,500 supply riders is already working with Uber Eats and different retailers.
Madrid, the place Cabify began working a decade in the past, has about 8,000 automobiles licensed for ride-hailing companies, and competitors is rife between apps which have been branching out into scooters, bikes and grocery deliveries.
Cabify, which is contemplating going public however has not introduced any agency plan to difficulty shares but, had world revenues of $516 million in 2021, and over 5.4 million registered customers.
It makes use of the companies of 230,000 drivers throughout its markets in Europe and Latin America. It has 441 direct employees in Spain, in accordance to a latest firm presentation.
(Reporting by Inti Landauro, extra reporting by Clara-Laeila Laudette; modifying by Aislinn Laing, Andrei Khalip and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
