20 Things You Didn’t Know About Gett
Gett is a British ride-hailing startup that offers on-demand transportation in the United Kingdom. The company has experienced rapid growth since its inception with investors eyeing it as a possible investment. If you’re not yet familiar with this high-profile taxi service, here are 20 things you didn’t know about Gett.
1. Gett is a new name for an 11-year-old company
According to Wikipedia, Gett is a new name for a company that was previously named GetTaxi. The company provides SaaS solutions for corporate ground transportation management. The global market for the business is at $80 billion. Gett is a leader in the GTM sector and it currently serves twenty-five percent of the existing Fortune 500 businesses. 2
2. Gett was founded in 2009 in Israel
GetTaxi was the name of the business when it first launched in 2009. Two entrepreneurs from Israel named Shahar Waiser and Roi More were tired of waiting for a taxi to get to the airport when traveling in the United States. The business first launched in Tel Aviv in 2009, operating its beta version in the Hebrew language. The founders opened the operation in London in August of 2011.
3. GetTaxi expanded to Russia
Before it officially changed its name, GetTaxi opened its services in Moscow. The Russian branch launched in March of 2012. The app connected corporations with transportation providers in its third official country, expanding its international reach.
4. GetTaxi also launched in the United States
The same year that GetTaxi started providing services for Russia it was launched in the United States. The first GetTaxi offices in America opened in New York City with positive reviews. It was predicted by Mashable that the app was set to revolutionize the taxi experience for New Yorkers.
5. Gett is a cloud-based app
Gett provides a software app that groups all transportation providers in the area of coverage into one platform. The software is cloud-based. This is the current trend in technology that helps to expand the coverage of the app. Gett has connected all of its ground transportation spend to the global transportation grid. This brings all of the ride-hailing and corporate fleets together to provide employees the optimal experience for booking and riding on-demand. It also saves time and money for the corporations riders work for.
6. Gett established a partnership with Volkswagen
Gett made plans for expanding the operations throughout Europe. It struck a deal with the Volkswagen Group in May of 2016. As a part of the agreement, the strategic partnership included a $300 million investment from Volkswagen to finance the expansion and provide its first adventure into the mobility space under the auspices of Volkswagen.
7. Gett is expanding operations in the United States
According to Business Travel News, Gett is also expanding its operations in the United States. The most recent announcement of a new partnership was made in late April of 2021. Gett announced that it has partnered with Curb Mobility, a US-based taxi and fleet operator. The purpose of the partnership is for Gett to expand its ride-hailing services in an additional 65 American cities. Currently, Gett’s partner fleets make up approximately 33 percent of the business-to-business rides on its platform in reports for the first quarter. The expectation is that Gett will continue to expand B2B to represent the majority of the platform by the end of 2021.
8. The Curb partnership signals a shift in Gett’s fortunes
According to Kelo, Gett’s partnership with Curb is a significant milestone in the British company’s progress. It represents an opening in a market that hadn’t provided any significant agreements since 2018 when Gett was unsuccessful in its competition with Lyft and Uber Technologies. The agreement with Curb signals a positive change as it is making another significant stride in penetrating the US market with its focused ride-hail service that caters to businesses and organizations.
9. Gett is a major tech company
Although Gett falls under the category of the ride-hailing industry, it is very much a technology company. Its major product is the Gett app that streamlines on-demand ride-hailing for corporate consumers. The company currently provides software services for approximately 14,000 big companies in various parts of the world. The app helps them to organize their employee business travel, even when there is little notice for the need for transportation. The software is also useful in managing expenses and back-office tasks, which makes it a versatile travel solution. Most of Getts’s business is within Israel, the United Kingdom, and Russia, but it is expanding throughout other parts of the world as more companies are willing to develop partnerships.
10. Gett has made three acquisitions
According to Crunchbase, Gett has acquired three companies so far. The first acquisition was made on March 30, 2016, when it acquired Radio Taxis for an undisclosed amount. Radio Taxis was the first carbon-neutral taxi company in the world, based in London, England. Gett acquired Juno on April 25, 2017, for a price of $200 million. The company offered a fresh approach to ride-sharing and further opened opportunities for Gett’s continued expansion. The most recent acquisition was made on August 9, 2017, when Gett acquired StreetSmart for an undisclosed amount. The company provides decision support systemically for drivers in all car services.
11. Gett is a diverse company spanning multiple industries
It’s not enough to simply classify Gett as a ride-hailing business or a tech company. While it has developed a ride-hailing app, there is much more to Gett. It is also considered to be a software company, a transportation and logistics provider, an SaaS, enterprise software, and a B2B provider. When you consider the gestalt of Gett is more than just one type of company. It is far-reaching in the transportation industry and this is why it’s set to disrupt the status quo and revolutionize the industry.
12. Gett is a late-stage venture capital company
We also learned that Gett has received a total of 12 rounds of venture capital funding. This suggests that it’s a business that investors are clamoring to become a part of. The latest round of funding closed on January 12, 2021. The Series F funding round raised $15 million and was funded by its sole and lead investor for the round, Pelham Capital.
13. Investor confidence is high in Gett
Gett has a total of 11 investors. There are 8 lead investors. This group is comprised of Pelham Capital, Kreos Capital, the Volkswagen Group, MCI Capital SA, Access Industries, Sber Bank, DaVinci Capital, and Baring Vostok Capital Partners. These lead investors are joined by 3 other investors. Since the funding rounds began, the total amount of funding raised for Gett is $928 million. This confirms that there is high investor confidence in the likelihood of Getts’s success and continued forward advances in its specialty niche of the transportation and corporate ride-hailing market.
14. Gett is led by a small team of executives
Although Gett is a large and successful company that is still expanding, it is led by a relatively small executive team. It consists of just 5 current team members. The group is made up of Dave Waiser, co-founder and chief executive officer of the business. He is joined by co-founder Roi More, the global chief financial officer Alaiksei Aneihyk, the Gett-IL CEO mark Oun, the global COO Max Krasnykh, and one board member and advisor, Ole Harms. The board position was added in March of 2016. Gett’s team is small but it is made up of talented and dynamic professionals who believe in teamwork, with a proven track record of success.
15. Gett is powered by complicated technology
The website and app that Gett requires to power its app relies on a total of 51 different technologies. These technologies are distributed across 24 different technology products and services. Just a few of them include HTML5, jQuery, Google Analytics, Viewport Meta, iPhone/Mobile Compatible, SSL by Default, and many others. This type of complex technology is expensive to develop and procure. The expense of the technology is the driver behind the need to do so much fundraising. Although Gett brings in high revenues, there are a lot of overhead expenses involved in keeping the app and website running smoothly and efficiently for the end-users. Although the tech powering Gett is varied and includes dozens of components, it all takes place behind the scenes and clients are not aware of its complexities.
16. Monthly visits to Gett’s website are growing in most countries
Recent analytics show that although Gett is not the highest-ranked ride-hailing company, it is sustaining positive growth. In Israel, there has been a growth rate of 61 percent with an average of 1,242 new unique visitors. the growth in the Russian Federation was 24 percent. Growth is 11 percent in the United Kingdom, and 2 percent in both France and the United States. It’s likely that when the current covid-19 pandemic abates, the growth in the United States and other markets will rise at a faster rate, thanks to the new partnership that Gett has entered into with Curb. Gett is holding its own under very difficult economic and demographic conditions with the curbing of travel and public gatherings.
17. Gett is currently hiring
According to Gett’s LinkedIn page, Gett currently has 20 positions open. There are several openings available in London, England, and Tel Aviv Israel. This suggests that Gett is getting ready for another expansion by adding new staffing positions throughout the world. A new executive position as head of growth has opened in Tel Aviv. Gett attracts the best talent in the world with expertise in the transportation and technology sectors, suitable for working with its Fortune 500 clients to achieve customer satisfaction.
18. Gett employs nearly 1,000
Although Gett isn’t the largest company in the transportation industry concerning its employee numbers, its reach is intense. There are currently just under 900 employees who work at Gett, with another 20 jobs being advertised to take them over the 1,000 in numbers. Gett continues to grow and expand to different countries throughout the world, and we expect to see the numbers of staff begin to climb when the aftermath of the pandemic begins to ease and when businesses and public meetings become more commonplace. Gett has managed to maintain a state of growth during these troubled economic times when many businesses are closing their doors for good.
19. Gett has achieved unicorn status
According to Tech Crunch, Gett has achieved unicorn status. It reached a valuation of $1.5 billion to take it over the top in joining this elite group of companies. Gett is a privately held company that has not needed to file for an initial public offering for fundraising. It’s had ample access to obtaining all of the funding necessary for bolstering its infrastructure while expanding the app and its partnerships throughout major countries throughout the world. Gett has achieved tremendous success in rising to the level of a unicorn.
20. This is just the beginning for Gett
Gett has been around for just over a decade. In that time it has expanded from Israel to its headquarters in London, throughout Russia, the United States, and there are plans to move into Croatia as well as other countries. Gett executives have continued to work towards new partnerships to add to the large fleet of participants who provide transportation options for clients using the Gett app. As the economies of the world begin to open, Gett will continue to add new partners and expand to new cities and countries. Gett is just getting started in its quest to take a larger piece of the market share. It occupies a unique niche in the ride-hailing industry that serves corporate clients only, and this is the outstanding factor that sets it apart from the others.
