Rakuten Backs Spanish And Latin American Taxi App Cabify
You’d be forgiven for thinking that Uber has sewn up the on-demand transportation space. But actually in a number of specific markets there are taxi apps that are holding their own against the multi billion dollar-valued Silicon Valley juggernaut.
It’s on that premise that Cabify, which claims to be the “leading private driver and taxi ride application” in Latin America and Spain, has raised $12 million in Series B funding.
Leading the round is Asian e-commerce and Internet services behemoth Rakuten — via the company’s Rakuten FinTech Fund — with participation from previous investor Seaya Ventures, amongst others.
Cabify says it will use the additional capital to expand operations in the 11 cities in which it operates throughout Spain, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico. It also plans to open several new cities across Latin America.
In a call, Seaya Ventures’ Michael Kleindl talked up Cabify as an example of a startup competing and winning against Uber despite being far less well-funded.