Hailo, the London-based e-hailing taxi service, will shut down its North American business operations, which means Uber and Lyft have one less competitor in Boston.
“Increasing price pressure” from Uber and Lyft, has also prompted the closing of Hailo D.C. and Chicago, TechCrunch reports. Hailo operations in Canadian markets will also be shutting down, according to TechCrunch (contrary to an earlier report by the site, that some markets in Canada might stay in business).
As of a year ago, Hailo had nearly 2,000 cab drivers on its system in Boston, representing one-third of the city’s drivers.
Launched by veteran London cabbies, Hailo had sought to differentiate its service by paying close attention to the needs of cab drivers, such as helping drivers to fill more of their empty shifts. The assumption was that attracting the best drivers and keeping them happy would give Hailo an edge over the competition.
But Hailo no doubt struggled as the ride-hailing app game became more about private drivers—such as through the lower-cost UberX service—than about actual cabs.
Here’s a statement from Hailo’s corporate office (as published by TechCrunch):
Since launching almost three years ago we have carried over 20 million passengers and are proud to be the highest rated taxi app in many cities. We’re particularly excited about the strength of our business in Europe and in Asia, and the set of new services built on our technology, from Pay with Hailo and Hailo for Business to our plans for a concierge service.
In the next phase of our growth, we have decided to put all of our energy and resources into these areas. We have therefore decided to end our operations in North America, where the astronomical marketing spend required to compete is making profitability for any one player almost impossible.
This has been a difficult decision to make, and we are very sorry for the impact on our colleagues who will leave the company and are doing everything we can to help them with their future careers. We and our investors are confident that our sharpened focus on Europe, Asia and services will help us have the biggest possible impact for our passengers and drivers.
Along with the dominance of Uber and Lyft in the ride-hailing app market, another bad sign for Hailo was the departure of its general manager for Boston in December. Vanessa Kafka, an MIT Sloan grad, left the position to become a senior marketing manager at Wayfair, and her replacement is based in Chicago.
In early 2013, Hailo raised $30 million led by prominent venture firm Union Square Ventures to support a rollout of the app in the U.S. and other countries outside the U.K.
Kyle Alspach contributed to this report.
Image used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0), Max Morse/TechCrunch.
