This is not the first time! Previously, we published at least two market maps on transportation and mobility in Dhaka and this is our third attempt at keeping a tally of the startups entering this market. Many of the startups from our previous two lists already went out of business.
You may see our first mobility and transportation market map here and a list of 9 startups trying to change how we get around in Dhaka here.
We don’t consider this as a complete list, if you know any startup that we missed, please let us know at [email protected]
| Company | Details | Investment | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pathao | Ride-hailing and logistics | Just raised Series A from Go-Jek and others | Active |
| SAM | Bike-hailing | N/A | Active |
| Amar Ride | Bike-hailing and logistics, a sister concern of Empire Group | N/A | Active |
| Chalo | Car-hailing, logistics and a host of other services | Raised multiple rounds of undisclosed investments from Clyde Wu, and undisclosed investors | Active |
| BDCABS | Taxi-hailing | Raised an undisclosed sum from Etohum | Active |
| MUV | On-demand bike-hailing | Undisclosed seed round | Active/Beta |
| Bahon | Ride-hailing | N/A | Active |
| Ezzyr | Ride-hailing | N/A | Active |
| Trippo | Ride-hailing | N/A | Active |
| Let's Go | Ride-hailing | N/A | Active |
| Uber | Ride-hailing | Uber is Uber | Active |
Instead of bothering you with new arguments, here is from our previous report on Pathao, Go-Jek funding:
Mobility is a big problem in Dhaka, as we wrote in a recent report. It is hard to get from one place to another in the city without spending hours on the road and the public transportation system is showing little sign of improvement.
Traffic has gotten worse over the years. According to World Bank, average traffic speed in Dhaka has dropped from 21 km/hour to 7 km/hour over the last 10 years.
According to “the Government’s own estimate, Dhaka’s traffic jams eat up 3.2 million working hours each day and drain billions of dollars from the city’s economy annually”.
Hence, we are seeing an influx in the number of mobility and on-demand transportation services in Dhaka. Dhaka has over 9 startups operating in the space including Toma, Chalo, Sam, Oikhali, Pathao, Uber, Amarbike, Amar Ride and Muv (you may see our mobility market map here).
It seems that the market is going to be even more competitive in the coming years. International players like India’s Ola and Grab are now eyeing Bangladesh. As we reported earlier, Ola is planning to launch operations in Dhaka by the fourth quarter of this year.
Investors across the world have been pouring billions of dollars into ride-hailing and transportation companies across the world.
This year alone, we have seen Didi Chuxing of China raise $5.5 billion to fuel its global expansion and Indonesia’s Go-Jek a $1.2 billion to fight Uber and Grab.
Mobility has become one of most talked about industries. With the emergence of electric vehicles led by Tesla, and self-driving car led by Google, Uber, Tesla, Lift Didi and in fact Apple, the future of transportation is a real hot topic.
Car manufacturers including GM are also investing heavily in the space.
Asia has seen some of biggest mobility startups including Grab, GO-Jek, Ola, Didi, Easy Taxi (southeast Asia), Meru Cab, Jagnoo, Shuttl, Careem (Middle East) and a host of other smaller players.
