Uber is merging with Yandex in Russia, Armenia, and neighboring countries
Russian online service Yandex.Taxi and Uber have agreed to combine their businesses in Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia and Kazakhstan, according to the report from Yandex TASS agency reported.
According to the report, both Yandex Taxi and Uber app will operate as before, driver apps, on the other hand, will be transitioned to a unified platform. "This combined driver platform will significantly increase the number of available cars, reduce passenger wait time, and boost vehicle utilization. Drivers will be able to perform more trips per hour while passengers will continue to enjoy affordable prices," the company said.
The new company will also operate the UberEATS service in the region, the agency added.
According to the source, Uber will invest $225 mln and Yandex will invest $100 mln into the combined company, valuing it at $3.725 bln on a post-money basis. "On a pro forma basis, Yandex will own 59.3% of the combined company, Uber will own 36.6%, and employees will own 4.1%," Yandex said.
The two teams will be integrated together and the current CEO of Yandex.Taxi Tigran Khudaverdyan will serve as the CEO.
According to analysts, the size of the official Russian taxi sector reaches approximately $8.4 bln (2016, VTB Capital). "That means that the combined company’s share of the taxi sector would have been only about 5-6%," Yandex said.
According to the company, the service’s users will have "seamless global roaming across the Uber and Yandex.Taxi platforms."