The combined Hailo-MyTaxi entity will have access to 70m passengers and 100,000 taxi drivers in over 50 cities across nine European countries. Image via Hailo
On-demand taxi app Hailo is to sell 60pc of its company to Daimler, owner of Mercedes-Benz. Hailo is to rebrand its operations under MyTaxi, a company also acquired by Daimler.
Daimler is determined that Uber won’t dominate the European on-demand taxi space.
Two years ago, it acquired MyTaxi and the Mercedes-Benz owner now plans to rebrand Hailo under the MyTaxi brand.
‘It’s a paper deal. Daimler will own 60pc of the new entity and the stakeholders in Halio will own 40pc’
– ANDREW PINNINGTON, HAILO
Hailo began in 2010 when three London taxi drivers and three tech entrepreneurs joined forces to transform the taxi business.
Within three years, more than 3m rides were enabled with over 30,000 registered taxi drivers.
Hailo is active in more than 16 cities worldwide including London, Dublin, Boston, Toronto, Madrid, Singapore and Chicago.
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Under the deal with Daimler, Hailo will merge and rebrand with MyTaxi. Hailo CEO Andrew Pinnington will become CEO of MyTaxi while MyTaxi co-founder Niclaus Mewes will become an MD at Daimler.
To date, Hailo is understood to have raised $100m from venture capitalists including Accel, Atomico, KDDI, Union Square, Wellington Partners and Richard Branson.
“It’s a paper deal. Daimler will own 60pc of the new entity and the stakeholders in Hailo will own 40pc,” Pinnington was quoted as telling Reuters.
The deal is the latest in a series of transactions that has seen car manufacturers drive into the on-demand taxi app business.
Earlier this year, Volkswagen took a $300m stake in Gett, while General Motors invested $500m in Lyft.
The combined Hailo-MyTaxi entity will be headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. Combined, MyTaxi will have access to 70m passengers and 100,000 taxi drivers in over 50 cities across nine European countries.
