Uber Experiencing Phenomenal Growth in China

[accelerator]

Hi Guys

Uber is experiencing phenomenal growth in China, as this Business Insider article discusses:

http://uk.businessinsider.com/leaked-graph-shows-uber-meteoric-growth-china-investors-2015-6

Uber is definitely a company to watch.

 

[getmein]

It's an astonishing business - simple idea, executed very well and scaled at hyper speed.

Does it justify the valuation in the long term? If they can continue to expand, thwart the competition and eventually own the space globally, then probably yes.

 

[accelerator]

What I like about the Uber model is that it also brings real benefits in terms of driver safety, passenger safety and service levels.

When I used to live in London, I often found it hard to get a cab home late at night. I would imagine that issue is now greatly improved thanks to Uber (although I haven't been able to try the service myself yet).

 

[getmein]

Late night (or indeed at any busy time) you can get hit by surge pricing which will be a multiple of the standard fare, but it's surprisingly rare.

I think what it's also done, is pushed more and more black cabs to get on board with one of the app based services like Hailo as they've noticed work dry up. So thats good for tech savvy consumers, not so good for people who've got no idea what an app is and who are standing around waiting for a cab.

The danger is, that as they squeeze out independent mini cab operators they'll eventually carve out so much of the market they'll have even more power to squeeze fares up. At the moment I think the service is good value but as we've seen in search, monopolies tend to benefit the service provider more than the customer.