 "uber, motorcycle, cab, ride")
Travis Kalanick, founder and chief executive of America-based Uber, the world's largest online taxi aggregator service whose company is referred to as the world's most valuable start-up was in Hyderabad on Tuesday for two events.
In September, Uber signed an agreement with T-Hub, billed as India's largest information technology start-up incubator, as part of its global mentorship programme, 'UberEXCHANGE', to mentor 20 start-ups to take them to a global stage.
After spending time with cricket star Sachin Tendulkar in Mumbai on Monday, Travis spent time with 200-odd start-ups at T-Hub here, offering his insights on how to grow their ventures.
This group of 200-odd entities, being incubated at T-Hub here, first got the chance of listening to Apple Inc chief executive Tim Cook earlier in May.
Before interacting with young entrepreneurs, Travis inaugurated the launch of his motorcycle-sharing product, uberMOTO, in the city. Uber's agreement with the upcoming Hyderabad Metro Rail to provide feeder services for passengers at all the 60-odd stations through the motorcycle-sharing app.
Travis said he had more than one reason to visit Hyderabad, the progressive policies of the state government being one. The other obvious reason was that Uber has its second largest campus here, with 2,000 employees.
"The future in Hyderabad is to have less congestion on roads, so that people have more time to spend for themselves, less pollution in the air, and more opportunities for people to serve the city," Kalanick said.
Since starting its regular cab hailing services in this city about three years earlier, Uber now has close to 75,000 taxis using its online platform. Hyderabad is the second city to have Uber's motorcycle-sharing product, after Bengaluru.
Telangana chief minister Chandrashekar Rao and Kalanick flagged off the 70-odd UberMOTO bikes, to be positioned at the parking areas of Hyderabad Metro.
Uber says the motorcycle app service will have all the standard safety features of its cab-hailing one — GPS tracking, two-way feedback and ability to share trip details with family, etc.
Travis is to spend the next three days in Delhi.
