Uber plans to buy Free Now taxi-healing app as a way to increase market share

Uber is considering buying a taxi-hailing app called Free Now as a way to increase its market share in Europe and Latin America.

Free Now, formerly known as Hailo and later My Taxi, is a taxi-hailing application with a nationwide presence in Ireland. It is a joint venture between German car giant BMW and Mercedes-Benz owner Daimler.

Free Now, which operates in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford, is Ireland’s leading taxi hire service. It also operates in over a hundred European cities.

Uber Tech, which runs its own taxi-hailing service, electric bike rentals, food delivery and courier service, has expressed interest in acquiring Free Now as part of its efforts to attract more investors amid the corona virus pandemic.

Any transactions faced by challenging market ride-hailing companies can be complicated. This makes it more difficult to agree on a price.

Last year, Daimler and BMW combined their mobility businesses and folded them into a joint venture called Your Now. That includes five businesses, including the Free Now Ride-Healing service.

Free Now has integrated ride-hailing apps including France’s Kapten, Greece’s Beat, and Romania’s Clever Taxi.

Daimler and BMW’s Free Shopping are now reflecting their emphasis on making profits and rising productivity in their main car production activities.

“The traditional industry has begun to realise it’s been wasting a lot of time, effort and money by trying to compete in these areas with questionable medium and long-term returns,” said Bernstein analysts Arndt Ellinghorst and Thanos Hadjiantonis