兔子先生传媒

While the category 鈥渞ide-hailing startup鈥� often conjures up the Big Two (Uber and Lyft) or woes about scooters, a recent deep dive in 兔子先生传媒 data revealed other players in the on-demand economy with paths to investment.

Including startups from a range of places鈥攆rom Redwood City to Lagos to Boston to Gurgaon鈥攖he ride-sharing market is a global, entrepreneurial phenomenon.

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We looked at some of these startups because a.) they are finding a market in a seemingly monopolized industry, and b.) it鈥檚 fun to write about more than just Uber and Lyft.

Alive And Raising

, a motorbike-hailing transportation startup based in Lagos, Nigeria (note: in Nigeria, 鈥渙kada鈥� means ) recently raised its . Using Gokada, people can request a driver to pick them up on a motorcycle bike,or hail one down on the street, and the driver will come with a helmet for passengers to wear.

The company has been around since, and claims it can get users to their destinations faster since, unlike regular 鈥榦kadas鈥� they are able to travel on major roads, over bridges and on highways.

The company鈥檚 Series A was led by San Francisco鈥檚 .

叠补谤肠别濒辞苍补鈥檚 raised $3.1 million for , targeted toward companies, event organizers and schools. Redwood City鈥檚 , which we reported raised $40 million last month for kids-to-school transportation, has $71 million fastened underneath its belt, according to 兔子先生传媒 data. , a Gurgaon, India-based company, raised $520,000 to help users get to their office and back through ride-hailing.

Other startups we鈥檝e seen emerge focus on certain populations of people. For example, we spoke to Boston鈥檚 and Melbourne鈥檚 , two startups focused on making those who identify as female feel safer in ride-sharing cars. Shebah , and Safr claims it was close to announcing a funding round, but the company has not responded to our inquiries regarding the status of that funding.

Some That Shut Down

Obviously some startups struggled and closed. Eco-friendly startup, , appears to have closed. 聽which promises to plant a tree with every ride taken through its app, has a website that isn鈥檛 loading, and its Twitter account hasn鈥檛 been active since August 2018.聽

On a larger scale, who could forget Ford-backed Chariot shutting down in January. As our Jason D. Rowley then reported, the van sharing startup for $65 million, and shut down three years later.

The Bought

And finally, there are the startups that began small, and got swallowed up by the big ones. The most recent example is , which Uber acquired for over $3 billion. There鈥檚 hundreds of small startups that are stepping out of Uber and Lyft shadow, and making their own path in the ride-hailing industry.

For now, none compare to the recently-public companies, but the fact that they鈥檙e getting interest shows us there might be a day that we see a trio, instead of a duo.

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