Indian cab service Ola has acquired TaxiForSure, the country’s second largest cab aggregator, for $200 million in cash and equity today. The move gives Ola a stronger footing in its quest to dominate online taxi services in the country.
Ola and TaxiForSure will continue to operate as separate services. While the former partners directly with drivers and has over 100,000 vehicles on its platform, the latter works with cab operators who run small fleets and has more than 15,000 cars in 47 cities on its roster.
The acquisition won’t affect the experience for customers, but it will give Ola a bigger workforce with which to expand its business in India and outpace competitors like Uber in India. The Indian cab market is worth about $8 billion with only 5 percent of it organized — so there’s plenty of room to grow for the fastest movers in this space.
Uber, which is estimated to have only about 10,000 drivers across 11 cities in the country, runs smaller operations than its competition, and is still having a hard time clearing regulatory hurdles set by local transport authorities in India.
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