Snapp!

Snapp! (Persian: اسنپ!) is an Iranian vehicle for hire company, headquartered in Tehran that launched in February 2014. Users can request a ride via the iOS, Android, or web application, by indicating their location and destination.[1] The price of the trip is set beforehand, to eliminate bargaining. Snapp! commissions drivers upon completing a background check, and showing a valid driver's license and insurance before hiring them.

Snapp!
TypePrivate company
IndustryTechnology, Transportation
FoundedFebruary 28, 2014 (2014-02-28)
Founder
  • Iyad Elkaser
  • Mahmud Fauz
Headquarters
Tehran
,
Iran
Services
  • SnappEco
  • SnappBike
  • SnappBox
  • SnappFood
  • SnappRoom
  • SnappTrip
  • SnappMarket
Number of employees
2,000
ParentSnapp Group

Funding and Operations

The company launched in 2014 as Taxi Yaab and experienced rapid growth in the first three years.[2]

In October 2016, the company received a $20 million investment in a Series A round led by MTN Group, a South African multinational corporation.[3] According to a 2017 interview with Shahram Shahkar, the former CEO of the company, Snapp! employs more than 300,000 active drivers and more than 500 other personnel at that time.[4] Snapp rebranded itself and changed its logo in 2019.[5]

As of 2019, Snapp! in Tehran was larger than Uber in any city.[6] As of December 2020, Snapp! had 85% of Iran's market share with operations in 34 cities. Via its 3 million drivers, it provided 2.5 million rides per day and is credited with a major shift in how Iranians use taxis.[2][7]

Products

In order to evade sanctions and appear on the app store, Snapp! had to disguise itself as a music app.[2] Similar to other companies such as Uber, Lyft, Snapp! features other options including: Snapp Taxi, Snapp Bike (for motorcycles), Snapp Box (for parcels) and Snapp Club (a loyalty program).[8][9]

Subsidiaries

Initially, Iran Internet Group was supposedly the holding company behind Snapp!.[10] IIG also held other companies such as Bamilo and ZoodFood. Later on, it renamed or shut down some of these services in favor of expanding Snapp! from a transportation-focused company to a more general tech company. Because of this, the ZoodFood service was renamed to Snapp! Food[11] and the online retail store known as Bamilo was shut down and redirected to the Snapp! Market website.

Lawsuit

Snapp! was sued by TAPSI in an anti trust lawsuit which was dismissed by council of competition.[12]

See also

References
  1. "Snapp About Us". Snapp.
  2. "How Iran's biggest taxi app survived U.S. sanctions and app ban". 2020-12-03. Retrieved 2022-02-18.
  3. Bayrasli, Elmira. "With a €20 million Series A Snapp opens up ride-sharing in Iran". TechCrunch. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  4. "مصاحبه شهرام شاهکار با دیجیاتو". Digiato. 6 March 2017. Archived from the original on 17 February 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  5. "نگاهی به لوگو و هویت گرافیکی جدید اسنپ". www.injast.net (in Persian). 13 February 2019. Archived from the original on 17 February 2019. Retrieved 2019-02-17.
  6. Odeh, Layan (2019-04-01). "Iran's Uber Hits 2 Million Rides-a-Day Amid Growth Spurt". Retrieved 2022-02-18.
  7. Kamali Dehghan, Saeed (2017-07-31). "Snapp: how Tehran's answer to Uber is changing how people travel, and live". The Guardian. Retrieved 2022-02-18.
  8. "how to get a discount from Snapp?". afkarnews (in Persian). Retrieved 2022-01-03.
  9. "Snapp, Iran's First Unicorn Startup?". 2018-04-23. Retrieved 2022-02-18.
  10. "Companies". Iran Internet Group. Archived from the original on July 17, 2020.
  11. "«اسنپ‌فود» نام جدید زودفود". Mehr News Agency. 15 August 2017.
  12. "دیجیاتو". دیجیاتو (in Persian). Archived from the original on 2018-10-02. Retrieved 2021-06-25.
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