Over the last couple of years, Taxi—ride sharing and car sharing services are growing rapidly in Russia after the investment which was made by foreign and domestic investors in online platforms from various Businesses.
Yandex—A multinational corporation, specialized in internet related products and services, which is also known as Russia’s Google, has a line-up of online services from its internet searches to email and taxi reservations. As per various sources, Yandex CEO said on Monday that the Joint venture with MLU B.V, has agreed to acquire the Vezet Group’s IP and Call Centres in Russia.
With this acquistion, MLU, which is Yandex’s ride sharing and food delivery joint venture with Uber, stated that it would further invest about 8 billion rubles i.e., $127 million in the Russian region over the next three years which will be distributed partially towards the safety and security that may include driver training and rest will be utilized for supporting regional drivers and taxi fleet companies.
Yandex was a competitor of Uber in Russia’s shattered market until 2017 when it joined forces and got structured with MLU B.V to control their shareholder. Now MLU operates across Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia and other countries and has expanded its business platforms. Yandex said that MLU will issue its new shares to pay for Vezet assets, that represent upto 3.7% of the issued share capital of the company and up to $71.5 million in cash. It did not give any more details of how much MLU will be paying for the assets but confirmed that companies are expected to close the deal by the end of 2019. Yandex is also considered as Initial Public Offering of MLU.
Yandex Taxi controls the overall taxi market in Russia, but still there is space for other competitors as demand for taxis is growing due to its presence over online platform.
