Taxify sees huge Africa growth while aiming to overtake Uber in Europe
The Estonian firm expects a 10-fold increase in the number of rides in two years on the high-potential continent
Lisbon — Taxify, a European-based rival to Uber and the leading app-based taxi-hailing platform in Africa, expects to grow its African business 10-fold over the next two years while it works to dethrone Uber in Europe, according to its CEO . Markus Villig said his firm, which has 15-million customers and 500,000 drivers on its platform in more than 25 countries, was on track for its drivers to rake a combined €1bn from rides in 2018. The Estonian firm is looking to add more services and more countries in 2019, he said during this week’s Web Summit conference in Lisbon, without disclosing details. Taxify opened in Lisbon earlier in 2018. “We see massive potential in Africa to grow at least 10 times in the next two years,” Villig said. “We grew our number of rides 10 times in 2017 and will be one of the fastest-growing companies in the industry this year as well.” In May, Taxify secured $175m in funding from a group led by German carmaker Daimler to help its battle against Uber.
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