Uber's inspirational journey – and what we can learn from it
May 11, 2023
min. read
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Back in 2010, a company named Uber made waves in San Francisco by changing the way people hailed cabs. Today, the company has expanded rapidly across the globe. Over the years, Uber's valuation has skyrocketed, and it has evolved from a ride-sharing service to a massive enterprise that competes in the food delivery and car rental markets.
The evolution of Uber from a small startup to a giant is a remarkable story of visionary business practices that revolutionized an entire industry. Let's take a closer look at how Uber achieved its success.
What if you could hire a ride with just your phone?
Garret Camp, one of Uber's co-founders, had a firsthand experience of the issues with conventional taxi services in San Francisco, where he often struggled to find a reliable ride.
For decades, San Francisco had a limited number of taxi licenses. Demand for taxis exceeded the supply, resulting in poor service and long waits. Despite this, the taxi drivers and fleets in San Francisco vehemently opposed any attempts to increase the number of permits, as they were determined to keep competition at a minimum.
Camp came up with the idea of creating an on-demand car service that passengers could track via their phones. Considering San Francisco's notoriously unreliable taxi services, Camp's idea made perfect sense as it provided a solution to increase the number of available rides and inform customers of the expected wait time.
Camp saw the new iPhone app store as a way to make it a reality. With the phone's accelerometer, he could charge passengers by the minute or the mile, similar to a taximeter. Collaborating with fellow entrepreneur Travis Kalanick, they cemented an innovative notion: What if clients could effortlessly summon a ride by means of their smartphones?
Uber officially launched in San Francisco in 2010. The app was an instant hit due to its ease of use: customers could order a ride, pinpoint their location with GPS, and have the fare automatically charged to their account.
The rise of the world's most valuable startup: key milestones
Uber's valuation skyrocketed to $51 billion after funding rounds in 2015, making it the world's most valuable startup at that time. Below are some other significant milestones in the company's history:
- 2010: Uber received its first major funding of $1.3 million
- 2011: Uber launched in New York and France. The company also closed another funding round that year, which valued the company at $60 million.
- 2012: Uber expanded to 20 locations worldwide.
- 2013: Uber continued to grow rapidly, expanding to more than 40 new locations around the world.
- 2015: The company secured additional funding from investors, such as Microsoft and Bennett Coleman & Co, which boosted its valuation beyond $51 billion.
- 2016: The company raised an additional $3.5 billion from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund to further fuel its expansion.
- 2019: Uber went public through an initial public offering (IPO) with a market value of $75.46 billion, making it one of the biggest IPOs in history. The company raised an additional $8.1 billion through the IPO.
Uber's strategic approach to expanding globally and constantly improving user experiences offers valuable lessons for any tech-driven business. To understand more about the software that powers such services, learn more about our ride-hailing solutions.
What contributed to Uber's success?
Although Uber's success can be attributed in part to its founder's innovative idea, there are other important factors that have played a role in the company's accomplishments. Without proper strategy and execution, the company wouldn't have achieved such heights.
- Light asset base
Uber owes much of its rapid growth to its asset-light business model, which allowed it to expand into numerous markets with ease. Although sales teams and translation work were necessary to enter new markets, the software – their app – was the main asset they offered. With drivers bringing their own vehicles and riders using their own smartphones, Uber didn't have to make significant capital investments to operate in these markets.
Moreover, Uber's technology platform is estimated to have cost less than $2 million to develop, a relatively small investment compared to the company's current valuation. By focusing on building a simple and user-friendly app, Uber was able to create a scalable platform that could efficiently serve the needs of riders and drivers alike.
For ATOM Mobility clients, the app is already there – and it's highly customizable to make sure it fits your business and target market. So, you won't need to invest months and millions of dollars to make your own from scrat
- Emphasis on customer acquisition
Uber's revenue model seems to be based on customer habits rather than brand loyalty. While it's true that many people use Uber regularly, the company's marketing tools rely more on discounts and surge pricing than on building a traditional brand image.
Uber's use of surge pricing is a good example. By adjusting prices during periods of high demand, the company can maximize its margins while still undercutting its rivals when demand is low.
Despite the absence of a traditional brand loyalty program, Uber has managed to establish a foothold in many markets around the world. Its simple and efficient app, combined with its competitive prices and constant promotions, has helped it become a go-to choice for many consumers.
As an ATOM Mobility user, you can, too, adjust your pricing and/or offer discounts to your end users. Thanks to the built-in functionalities, it can be done in a matter of seconds.
- Solving a real-world problem
Uber's success can be credited to its ability to solve a genuine issue that existed in the transportation industry. In the past, finding a taxi in some areas was a daunting task, and conventional taxi services were frequently unreliable and inconvenient.
One of Uber's co-founders, Garret Camp, was intimately familiar with these difficulties because of his experience with San Francisco's transportation system. Consequently, he knew exactly what he wanted as a customer – a dependable way to hire a ride anytime and anywhere in the city without the hassle of cash and making calls. Uber's rapid growth can be attributed to the fact that it provided a solution to a real-world problem for a large number of its customers.
Now, ask yourself – what's the one thing that annoys you the most when it comes to transportation system in your neighborhood, city, or country? If it's a problem for you, it might be a problem for others as well. And perhaps, it can be solved with a shared mobility solution.
- Constant innovation: additional transportation services
Uber didn't rest on its laurels after the success of its ride-sharing service. At an early stage, the company recognized the potential to provide additional transportation-related services. In fact, Uber's food delivery business is the company's biggest source of revenue, while the rides business generates the most profit.
The company has explored other business areas, such as:
- Uber Eats became a standalone app in 2016, offering food delivery from restaurants to users' doorsteps. It has since expanded to over 6,000 cities in 45 countries.
- Uber Rent, launched in 2017, allows users to rent vehicles and electric bikes/scooters directly from the main app.
- Uber Freight's digital marketplace connects shippers with carriers, allowing them to find and book loads with real-time tracking of shipments.
Uber’s success is largely due to its innovative use of technology to reshape urban mobility. For those interested in the technical side of ride-hailing services, you can learn more about how state-of-the-art software is crucial to these operations.
Lesson learned? Even if you've already built a successful venture, keep looking for new business opportunities. Have a scooter-sharing business? Maybe you can add other vehicles to your offering or launch a ride-hailing solution in partnership with your local taxi drivers, just like Uber. You got the idea.
Uber's turbulent journey to the top
Uber's journey has been far from smooth sailing. The company has faced numerous controversies, both internally and with authorities in different countries. Maintaining team morale and momentum whilst attempting to take on an entrenched industry is no easy feat, as Uber's experience has demonstrated.
Nevertheless, at its core, Uber's story is an inspirational one. The company's impact has been significant and transformative, and it serves as an iconic story of pioneering attitude and determination for aspiring entrepreneurs seeking to solve transportation problems. As co-founder Kalanick succinctly said, "I want to push a button and get a ride." And that's precisely the service they created.
And that’s precisely a service you can offer to your local community with ATOM Mobility’s software.
P.S. For more inspiration, take a look at Uber's very first presentation - https://www.slideshare.net/kambosu/uber-pitch-deck
Interested in launching your own mobility platform?
Click below to learn more or request a demo.
Blog
Bid your price: ATOM Mobility launches rider-controlled pricing feature
💸 ATOM Mobility launches “Offer your price” - a rider-controlled pricing feature. Riders can suggest higher or lower fares within pre-set limits. Boosts demand & helps stand out in competitive ride-hail markets 🚖🌍
August 4, 2025
min. read
The ride-hailing market is always changing. From Latin America to Eastern Europe, platforms like inDrive have popularized a new norm: letting riders suggest what they want to pay. Now, in response to this growing global trend, ATOM Mobility is proud to introduce: Offer your price – a fully configurable pricing feature built right into your rider app.
💡How It works
Available on all ride-hail projects, this feature lets riders propose a price – higher or lower than the default fare – within operator-set limits. Drivers can then accept or decline based on the offer.
Here’s how it reshapes the experience:
In the Rider app:
- A new "Offer your price" button appears when selecting a vehicle class.
- Riders can slide or tap “+/-” buttons to adjust price:
- e.g. +30% to get a faster ride 🟢
- or -10% to save on a flexible trip 🔵
- For scheduled rides, this feature is disabled to keep things predictable.
Smart logic behind the slider:
Your admin dashboard defines the limits – say, up to +500% from regular price and down to -30% – and the app calculates step sizes automatically:
- +500% limit → 1 step = 5%
- +100% limit → 1 step = 1%
- +200% limit → 1 step = 2%
Slider position adapts dynamically, depending on your defined range. And yes – the button color and style can be customized to match your brand 🎨.
On the operator dashboard:
You’ll find complete control and clarity:
- Enable/disable the feature per vehicle class
- Set custom % limits for price increase/decrease
- Price card, exports and ride activity logs are all updated with the adjusted ride price
- New ride status - Ride requested (adjusted ride price) for transparency in reporting
What drivers see:
In the driver app:
- Price offers are marked clearly (e.g. 🔻 "Discount requested" or 🔺 "Extra fee offered");
- Final earnings are adjusted accordingly and logged in driver stats.
Who's already doing this – and winning?
Real-world companies are already proving that rider-defined pricing works:
🚘 inDrive (LATAM, Africa, Asia)
Now one of the top global ride-hailing players outside the U.S. (over 200M downloads, active in 700+ cities across 45+ countries), inDrive built its brand around rider-negotiated pricing. It helps them stand out in price-sensitive markets and win over both drivers and passengers with more transparent pricing dynamics.
🚖 Comin (France)
A local success story, Comin has embraced flexible rider pricing to gain traction in several French cities (onboarded 6,000+ drivers). The feature gives them an edge against larger platforms, offering more freedom for users and better utilization for drivers.
These examples show that letting riders bid their price isn’t just a gimmick – it’s a growth strategy.
From our previosu blog “How to Find Your Niche in the Ride-Hail Market”, we saw how localisation and user control drive loyalty and conversion.
This new pricing flexibility supports:
- Emerging markets with income-sensitive riders
- Driver shortages, where riders can tip in real-time
- Brand positioning, letting you stand apart from competition
🚀 Ready to lead the market?
This is just one of the 300+ features available in ATOM’s white-label ride-hailing platform.
Let’s talk about how to launch or upgrade your app with “Offer your price”, advanced pricing logic, and more tools to dominate your niche.
👉 Contact our team and explore how to become the market leader: www.atommobility.com
Blog
Is car sharing profitable in 2025?
🚗💡 Is car sharing still a profitable business in 2025? Short answer – yes, if done right. From rising fleet costs to smarter user behavior and green transport trends, the shared mobility game is changing fast. Learn what makes a car sharing business work today – and why some succeed while others shut down. 👉 Real stories, data-backed tips, and practical advice for operators and mobility founders.
July 23, 2025
min. read
In 2024, the global car-sharing market was valued at approximately €8.9 billion, with Europe accounting for over 50.2% of that total. Analysts forecast it will grow at a CAGR of 11.8% between 2025 and 2033, reaching roughly €24.4 billion by 2033. This blend of urbanization, environmental regulation and a growing preference for flexible mobility continues to create fertile ground for operators - yet not every service finds a clear path to profitability.
Success hinges on your location, business model, fleet, operations and local market dynamics. There are strong success stories, but also many high-profile failures. Here’s a closer look at what really affects profitability in today’s car-sharing market - and what you can learn from real-world cases.
What makes a car-sharing business profitable?
Profitability in car sharing boils down to securing enough paid usage while keeping costs under control. Every unused hour or unnecessary expense erodes margins.
Key factors:
- Fleet utilization – the most important metric. Cars need to be in use several hours each day to cover fixed costs.
- Operational efficiency – cleaning, charging, relocation, maintenance and insurance add up quickly.
- Fleet acquisition – leasing usually optimizes cash flow and scalability, but still carries fixed monthly expenses.
- Pricing and competition – too low cuts margins; too high drives away users. Finding the right balance is essential.
- Tech stack – a robust platform automates operations, improves customer experience and reduces support costs.
The operators who win are those who combine solid daily usage with lean operations.
❌ PANEK S.A. suspends its car-sharing service to focus on rental
29 March 2025 marked the end of Panek’s car-sharing experiment. Despite peaking at 2 700–3 000 vehicles, Panek never turned a profit in over seven years.
About Panek
- Launch: Car sharing added in 2017 by Maciej Panek, entirely internally funded (no VC)
- Fleet mix: City cars, hybrids, EVs, cargo vans and vintage models
- 2023 acquisition: Regional Rent (+ 45% fleet), making Panek Poland’s largest integrated rental/operator
2024 performance
- Revenue split: Car sharing ≈ 20 % of total. Traditional rental 80 %
- Utilization: 0.7–1.0 rides/car/day
- Maintenance & overhead: Up to €690/car-month
- Profitability: Negative since inception
Why it failed
- Under-utilization: < 1 ride/day vs. ~ 2-4 rides/day needed to cover fixed costs
- Price wars: Fierce competition in Warsaw eroded margins and drove up customer-acquisition costs
- High OPEX: Parking, maintenance, insurance and vandalism pushed costs > €690 per car each month
- Tech drag: Two-year outsourced app development cycle meant poor UX and slow feature delivery
- No public support: Missed out on parking incentives or EV subsidies
Faced with persistent losses, Panek’s leadership refocused on profitable core segments: daily/weekly rentals, corporate leasing and Fleet-as-a-Service.
🚗 WiBLE Spain finds its profitable lane in Madrid
WiBLE (50/50 joint venture between Kia Europe and Repsol) launched in 2018 and has just closed its second consecutive year with positive EBITDA.
- Fleet: 600+ plug-in hybrids (Kia Niro, XCeed, Ceed Tourer)
- 2024 revenue: €6.93 million (+ 5% vs. 2023)
- Usage: ~1 500 trips/day ⇒ 2.5 rides/car/day
- Diversification: Monthly rentals (€599+) now 5% of revenue
- Market share: ~19% of Madrid’s car-sharing market
Key enablers:
- Higher utilization – rides up 15% YoY, driving a 10% lift in core revenue
- Fleet scale efficiencies – added 150 vehicles in 2 years, lowering per-unit costs
- Service diversification – multi-day and monthly rental options opened new revenue streams
After five years of absorbing fixed-cost drag and depreciation, WiBLE now leverages Madrid’s regulatory environment (low-emission zones, parking benefits) and delivers lean, tech-driven operations.
🚗 SOCAR South Korea: scale + longer rentals
SOCAR (backed by SoftBank, SK Inc. and Lotte Group) operates 20 000 vehicles, generates nearly €300 million in annual turnover and has 20% of South Koreans signed up.
- Model: Station-based, pay-per-minute with average rental duration of a whoping 12 hrs
- Segmentation trick: Aging cars shift from on-demand sharing to long-term monthly rentals (10% of revenue), extending resale life with minimal depreciation impact
By pairing massive scale with savvy car lifecycle management, extra-long rental duration, SOCAR converts high utilization into robust profitability.
🚗 Carguru (Latvia)
30 August 2024: Carguru (est. 2017) acquired EV-focused OX Drive (est. 2021), adding 200+ Tesla to the fleet.
- Growth: From just 30 cars and total budget below 500 000 EUR (2017) to over 1 000 cars (mid-2025) via leasing and strategic partnerships
- 2023 turnover: €4 million; 435 000 trips (+35.9 %); 7 million km driven; profit €375 600
Outcome: A combined ICE, hybrid and EV fleet—backed by local expertise and strategic acquisitions - has driven strong growth and high utilization.
🎯 Core suggestions for aspiring operators
- Target 2–4 rides/day per vehicle
- Leverage dynamic/off-peak pricing, B2B partnerships (hotels, offices) and event tie-ins.
- Contain OPEX via automation
- Use predictive maintenance, remote diagnostics and gig-economy cleaning/relocation.
- Secure municipal support early
- Negotiate parking incentives, EV charging access and low-emission zone permits.
- Choose your tech wisely
- Build an in-house development team for full control with higher costs, or adopt a proven white-label platform for speed to market, stability and lower costs.
- Validate unit economics before scaling
- Prove break-even utilization in one zone before expanding to others.
With clear benchmarks and smart execution - drawing on lessons from Panek, WiBLE, SOCAR and Carguru - car sharing can still be a highly profitable component of a modern mobility portfolio.
If you’re planning to start or improve your service, ATOM Mobility is ready to help. We’ve built the platform and supported dozens of teams worldwide - reach out, and we’ll share what we’ve learned.
Image credit: https://kursors.lv/2018/03/13/carguru-palielina-autoparku-un-paplasina-darbibas-zonas-mikrorajonos
Driver App demo credentials - Email: test@atom.com, Password: driver
