Who can grab the opportunity as Uber’s Asian ride gets bumpy?
Fierce competition throughout Asia, most recently in Cambodia and Myanmar, are a sign of things to come in a new booming market
Instead, with the titan on the ropes, the smaller players are quietly using the opportunity to expand into new countries and services, consolidating market share wherever possible.
Smaller players such as Singapore-based Grab, the US firm Lyft, India’s Ola, Dubai’s Careem, Brazil’s 99 and the European outfit Taxify all have some form of financial backing from Didi.
Uber’s troubles, however, stem not from a lack of funds, but the Silicon Valley’s “move fast and break things” credo perpetuated by its co-founder and former chief executive Travis Kalanick.
While the approach propelled the company’s meteoric rise to become the world’s most valuable start-up – worth some US$68 billion – it is also seen as the key reason why it is in the cross hairs of fastidious transport regulators in numerous cities.