{"id":339823,"date":"2017-05-02T14:59:26","date_gmt":"2017-05-02T06:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1484061"},"modified":"2017-05-02T14:59:26","modified_gmt":"2017-05-02T06:59:26","slug":"ubereats-launches-in-india-starting-out-in-mumbai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/ubereats-launches-in-india-starting-out-in-mumbai\/","title":{"rendered":"UberEats launches in India, starting out in Mumbai"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Uber has launched its UberEats service in India today, where it will initially be available in Mumbai.<\/p>\n

The company said it plans to expand the\u00a0reach of UberEats in India to six cities before the end of the year, but it did not disclose which\u00a0cities it will hit.\u00a0Mumbai is as good a\u00a0place to start as any, being that it is one of India\u2019s three business\u00a0hubs<\/a> and a city with an estimated population of\u00a020\u00a0million people.<\/p>\n

\u201cMumbai is home to a booming food industry with a vibrant food culture offering both global and local cuisines. The introduction of UberEats in India, with Mumbai as the first city, is a major step in our global expansion and showcases our commitment to the region,\u201d\u00a0Bhavik Rathod, Head of UberEats India, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

This new UberEats launch, which was first teased in January,\u00a0takes the service in 78 cities across 26 countries worldwide. Eats first began as a pilot project in 2014 in Los Angeles, initially inside the core Uber app but it later got a standalone app<\/a>.\u00a0It\u00a0entered Asia through a launch in Singapore<\/a> back in March of last year, and across the region it is also available in Tokyo, Japan, and Bangkok, Thailand.<\/p>\n

India is, of course, a huge global opportunity, and it is one that Uber is more committed to than ever having exited the Chinese market<\/a>.\u00a0India\u2019s online population is tipped to reach 450 million-465 million people by June 2017,\u00a0according to a report co-authored by\u00a0the\u00a0Internet and Mobile Association of India, bringing with it the potential to connect people, be it to taxis, cars, food and more. E-commerce sales alone, for example, are estimated\u00a0to reach $48 billion by 2020, analyst firm Forrester claimed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

UberEats is up against plenty of competition in Mumbai, where the likes of FoodPanda, Swiggy and Zomato have competed for a number of years.\u00a0Last month, Google even ventured into the space<\/a> with its own service for ordering food or home services.\u00a0Ola, Uber\u2019s on-demand ride rival in India, also dabbled in food, but its program was closed down last year<\/a> after less than 12 months of operations.<\/p>\n

Uber isn\u2019t saying too much about how it plans to tackle\u00a0its rivals. In other cities, it has put a heavy focus on curating its list of restaurants \u2014 others, like FoodPanda, operate as a more volume-focused marketplace \u2014 and it is of course sure to lean on its ride-sharing business, which is battling hard with Ola.<\/p>\n

While there are no clear metrics that show which company is ahead of the other, Ola has been consistently linked<\/a> with a new round of funding that would reduce its valuation. The firm reportedly raised $250 million in fresh capital at a $3 billion valuation, according to the\u00a0Economic Times reported<\/a>, which would be down from a $5 billion valuation in 2015<\/a>. That down round may be a reflection of the challenge of growing a tech business beyond tier-one and -two cities in India and into rural areas, but another aspect could be the consistent challenge that Uber is bringing.<\/p>\n

Uber has thrown more focus on Eats lately, beyond its ongoing global expansion. Recent updates added<\/a> tailored recommendations,\u00a0customizable drop-off directions for drivers and new filtering options, while it also introduced a restaurant management service<\/a> that helps restaurant partners get actionable insight through data.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\" Uber has launched its UberEats service in India today, where it will initially be available in Mumbai. The company said it plans to expand the reach of UberEats in India to six cities before the end of the year, but it did not disclose which cities it will hit. Mumbai is as good a place to start as any, being that it is one of India’s three business hubs and a… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n

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