Israeli Ride-Sharing Startups ‘Gett’ And ‘Juno’ Face Tough Drive In New York

By Shoshanna Solomon, The Times of Israel May 08, 2017 2 minutes

taxicabs new york city - pixabay

This article was first published by The Times of Israel and was re-posted with permission.

When Israeli startups Gett and Juno teamed up, their deal highlighted just how much action the ride-sharing space has seen this year, and how stiff the competition for the streets of New York is and will continue to be.

Gett and Juno, who said last month they would join forces to enable them to challenge larger rivals Uber and Lyft, did not disclose the terms of the deal, but the news site TechCrunch reported that Gett had paid $200 million for Juno, which launched in New York last year.

Shahar Waiser, founder and CEO of Gett. Courtesy

“It’s pretty amazing to get a $200 million valuation for a two-year old company,” said Koby Simana, the CEO of IVC Research Center in Tel Aviv which tracks the industry. “The deal shows just how much attention the potential of the automotive industry is getting these days.”

Gett, formerly called GetTaxi, defines itself as an on-demand mobility company, and offers ride-hailing services in more than 80 cities around the world, including London, Moscow and New York. The taxi app Juno is only active in New York City and was founded in 2016 by Israeli CEO Talmon Marco, creator of the communication app Viber, which was sold to Japanese electronic commerce and internet company Rakuten for $900 million in 2014 — at the time the biggest-ever buyout of an Israeli tech company by an Asian firm.

Gett has raised some $640 million to date, according to Tel Aviv-based Zirra.com, a research firm that analyzes private companies using artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. The funds raised by Gett include a $300 million investment last year from German automaker Volkswagen, with which Gett has partnered with the aim of becoming the first company to launch self-driving cars on demand, a market that MarketsandMarkets forecast will be worth some $139 billion by 2020.

Together, Gett and Juno now plan to take on Uber, which offers service in hundreds of cities worldwide and is reportedly worth $60 billion, while Lyft is available in dozens of US cities.

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Photos and video: Gett, Pixabay