Uber Makes Another Buy, Acquiring U.K.-Based Autocab
LONDON, ENGLAND - Anyone who appreciates a game of chess or battleship understands the pieces on the board and where they stand are often the most crucial factors in securing victory. Uber certainly seems to be setting its pieces up carefully on a now global scale, having announced entering an agreement to acquire Autocab, a U.K.-based tech company that provides private hire and taxi operators with a technology to run their businesses.
“Autocab has worked successfully with taxi and private hire operators around the world for more than thirty years and Uber has a lot to learn from their experience. We look forward to working with the Autocab team to help local operators grow and provide drivers with genuine earnings opportunities,” Jamie Heywood, Regional General Manager, Northern and Eastern Europe, Uber, said.
Uber will explore providing drivers with additional revenue opportunities related to its platform for other services, such as delivery, according to a press release, piquing our interest if the buy is more a foodservice move that mirrors the other strategic acquisitions Uber has made in recent memory—namely its offer to take over Grubhub in May before the would-be subsidiary went with a deal with Just Eat, a $2.6 billion offer for Postmates in June, and a North America-wide launch of it still-newly acquired Cornershop in July.
“Autocab has been working with local operators across the world to provide the technology to make them more efficient and open up a marketplace to provide more trips. Working with Uber, we can scale up our ambitions, providing hundreds of thousands of additional trips for our customers, and help cement the place of licenced operators in their local community,” Safa Alkateb, Chief Executive Officer of Autocab, said of the opportunity.
Through Autocab’s iGo marketplace, Uber said it will be able to connect riders with local operators, who in turn should be able to expand their operations and offer more earnings opportunities to local drivers.
Financial details were not disclosed in the release, though Uber did note that Autocab will remain independent with its own board focused exclusively on providing technology to the taxi and private hire industry around the world.
Stay tuned as we continue to track big and burgeoning players in the grocery delivery space and all other buy-side influences of the produce industry.
