If you're looking for a battle royale between two ambitious, well-funded startups, you might start by visiting India.
The country has become the focus of an intense competition between Silicon Valley's Uber and homegrown Ola as each seeks to dominate the country's exploding ride-hailing market. Uber has raised $8.8 billion in venture capital, while Ola has raised $1.8 billion. There are local reports that Ola has raised another $300 million, though the company has declined to confirm that.
But if you think that Ola sounds outgunned, think again. Ola has a two-fold plan to beat back the challenge of the Silicon Valley interloper.
First: Focus exclusively on India, now and forever. And second: Create a unique, personalized riding experienced that can be adapted to the particulars of individuals and the widely varied challenges of a market that is like no other.
Ola's latest salvo in that strategy was fired last year when it launched Ola Play, an in-vehicle platform to help customize the ride experience. Ankit Jain, head of Ola Play, said this is just the beginning as the company seeks to expand how and why people turn to ridesharing services in the country.
"Ridesharing markets are essentially local," Jain said. "A cookie cutter approach won't work. Ola's service is not just optimized for India, but for each of the cities we serve."
What happens in this face-off has bigger implications than just which of these two companies emerges victorious. For years, Silicon Valley companies looked toward China, the world's largest internet market, but often found it impenetrable as they unsuccessfully fought local incumbents and government regulators.
Now, they're turning their attention to India, which is the world's second-largest internet and smartphone market but is growing at a faster clip than China on both fronts. While government obstacles for Western companies are significantly lower in India, the question remains as to whether Silicon Valley giants can effectively adapt their global products to suit the needs of the complex India market.
Certainly India took on a much greater significance for Uber after the company pulled the plug on its money-losing China operations. Thus, India became perhaps its next most critical emerging market. Uber has worked hard to put its own regulatory problems in India behind it, along with the fallout from rape allegations against one of its drivers. The company now operates in 29 cities across India. In a city like Delhi, Uber offers six level of service, including UberMoto, which is a ride on a scooter.
By contrast, Ola is in more than 100 cities across India. The company offers 16 different vehicles, including bike taxis and rickshaws. And that's just one example of how Ola believes it is better able to adapt to its home market, Jain said.
Given the unevenness of the country's cellular networks, Ola rides can be initiated with an SMS text. And payments can be calculated and paid in cash without an internet connection. The company also has drop boxes around its cities so drivers don't end up carrying large amounts of cash.
Jain noted that the licensing services for cities and the regions outside cities are different for taxi drivers. Ola has fleets of drivers licensed for both, allowing for both short and long-haul trips. And if a client is taking a longer trip, they can book a service in which the driver simply waits for them over several days and is at their disposal to chauffeur them around and take them back at the end of a trip.
The service has evolved to the point that, Jain said, many of Ola's drivers have started to become entrepreneurs themselves, buying and creating fleets of cars on the platform.
