Gett has acquired Juno and together the two New York-based ride-hailing apps have plans for a massive expansion to compete with Uber.
The early 2017 Uber boycott served many purposes – one of which, if unintentional, was to shine a light on the number of other ride-sharing and ride-hailing apps on the marketplace. Lyft experienced the greatest bump, but in New York City, riders had access to Juno and Gett as well. Wednesday, those options became slightly more limited as Gett acquired Juno for a value of $200 million.
As part of the deal, as reported by TechCrunch, Gett will get access to all of Juno’s existing business, which includes drivers, employees and the founding team. The founders – Talmon Marco, Igor Magazinik, Ofer Samocha and Sunny Marueli – will lead operations in the U.S. and help with a nationwide expansion. Gett has a sizable presence in Europe, operating in 100 cities overseas, and hopes to scale similarly in the U.S. outside of New York.
Expansion, of course, requires funding. Gett raised $300 million from Volkswagen last year, but will be initiating another large round of funding to achieve their goals.
According to TechCrunch, the acquisition could position Gett to compete with Lyft to be the second-largest rides-on-demand service in New York. Uber, despite of boycotts and outrage, remains number one.
Juno and Gett have both long positioned themselves as being the most driver-friendly service. Juno offered drivers shares, which will now be paid out as part of the acquisition. But, since Gett wants to offer drivers similar “long term value sharing,” it’s likely that drivers may again be in a position to receive stock. Furthermore, Gett will continue to offer drivers 10 percent commission and 100 percent of all tips – perks that both Gett and Juno offered before they became one company.
Uber, in an effort to be more driver-friendly, recently announced updates to their rider rating and uberPOOL rating systems.
