“The Singapore government has been encouraging carpooling for the longest time, some 20 [or] 30 years. But we made carpooling work [by] being innovative,” says Ryde founder and CEO Terence Zou in an interview with The Edge Singapore.
The initial growth spurt in Singapore’s ride-hailing market was marked by a bruising struggle for market share between Uber and Grab. Following a truce, Grab has assumed a commanding lead. However, that has not stopped other newer, smaller players from dialling back their ambitions for a piece of the pie.
Ryde, a Singapore-based app, announced on March 8 that it is aiming for a 2022 Catalist listing on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) that will give it market value of $200 million. Founded in 2014 as a carpooling platform, Ryde says it pioneered the service a year before ride-hailing competitor Grab launched a similar service, GrabHitch.
