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Jakarta Post

GrabTaxi looking to expand across RI

Taxi-booking startup GrabTaxi plans to spread its wings in Indonesia, targeting big cities with big market potential across the countryGrabTaxi vice president for marketing Cheryl Goh said on Tuesday that her firm had secured US$90 million in investment, part of which would be used to expand its business in Indonesia

Khoirul Amin (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Wed, November 19, 2014

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GrabTaxi looking to expand across RI

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axi-booking startup GrabTaxi plans to spread its wings in Indonesia, targeting big cities with big market potential across the country

GrabTaxi vice president for marketing Cheryl Goh said on Tuesday that her firm had secured US$90 million in investment, part of which would be used to expand its business in Indonesia.

'€œFirst, we want to use the money for expansion in the Southeast Asia region. We also plan to expand to a number of cities in Indonesia,'€ she said, adding that the money would also be used to hire talented staff and to partner with more taxi drivers.

The startup'€™s deputy general manager for Indonesia, Eugene Hong, meanwhile, said that the company would thoroughly review the market potential of targeted cities before deciding where to spend its money.

'€œIf you'€™re looking to expand to other cities, what is the pinpoint there, what is the main problem there ['€¦]. Right now, we are carrying out a study to find what main issues there are before we can even think of expanding,'€ he told The Jakarta Post.

Eugene refused to disclose the names of the targeted cities, but he said that his firm would look to expand to large urban centers.

'€œI think there'€™s a lot of potential in cities, especially in Indonesia. In Malaysia, you have Kuala Lumpur, the only big city of its kind. In Indonesia, you have a lot. It could be five of those,'€ Cheryl added.

Indonesia, which is currently boosting its infrastructure development, has a number of very large cities, including Jakarta, Surabaya in East Java and Bandung in West Java, with surging demand for taxis.

Taxi demand in Indonesia is forecast to grow by 18.2 percent with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2012 and 2016, while supply is estimated to grow by only 16 percent, according to a 2012 Euromonitor report.

From a digital perspective, many more Indonesians, particularly those living in urban areas, use mobile devices to order goods and services, including taxis.

GrabTaxi, which was founded in Malaysia under the name MyTeksi, is a taxi-booking application for smartphone users across Android, iOS and BlackBerry platforms.

Initially launched in 2012 by two Harvard Business School graduates, the startup has netted 410,000 monthly users across Southeast Asia with 2.3 million downloads on mobile devices.

The startup has so far partnered with no fewer than 50,000 taxi drivers in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Similar to one of its global competitors, Uber, GrabTaxi does not operate its own fleet. The latter, however, partners with official taxi drivers, whereas Uber partners with private car owners.

Uber, which was previously present in Jakarta, has been banned by the city'€™s administration as its operations were considered harmful to licensed public vehicle operators.

Asked whether GrabTaxi would threaten the taxi-booking applications operated by taxi firms in the country, Cheryl said that most taxi firms in Southeast Asia were happy with the GrabTaxi application because it helped taxi operators get more passengers.

In October, GrabTaxi successfully pocketed $90 million in investment from a number of investors, led by US-based Tiger Global Management.

Hong told the Post that his firm would look to add logistics services to its business portfolio in the future.

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Correction

The original article informs that UberTaxi, which partners with private car owners in Jakarta, has been banned by the city administration.

The information is inaccurate and it should read Uber (not UberTaxi) still operates in Jakarta and partners with licensed chauffeur-driven limousine or rental car companies. The operation has been, however, criticized by the city administration regarding its legality.

We regret the errors.

Editors

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