Catch Taxi Launches in Ethiopia While Eying Kenya and Sudan

Catch Taxi, a new ride-hailing startup that want to be a Super App of East African Market is launching in Ethiopia. It will also be launching in Kenya at the end of June and in Sudan next.

The catch is aiming to create a homegrown ride-hailing app in East Africa and bring local talents and expertise into competitive edge to compete with international players in the region.

Currently on soft launch, Catch reported registering 1200 approved drivers so far.

The ride hailing scene in Addis Abeba is becoming competitive as dozens of players joins the market.

The Electronic Taxi Association founded few months back already have 17 members. However, only 7 of them have Electronic Taxi Service Provider License according to the association chairman Temesgen Geberehiowt.

Electronic Taxi Service Provider License is a license given by Addis Abeba Transport Bureau for tech startups that want to  provide a technology based transport service.

New players jumping to the market are going to compete with existing providers like Ride and Zayride. Ride, the premiere taxi hailing platform announced that they have registered 10,000 drivers in the beginning of the year.

Catch plans to use disruptive marketing method to reach wider user base in a short period with less resource. For this, Catch is introducing Catch Affiliate programme for Brand Ambassadors and Affiliate partners. This recent promotion in social media shows that they are trying work with local Social Media Influences with more than 10,000 followers.

Nafie Omar , Co-founder and CEO of Catch Taxi says to Shega : “Our aim is to scale into an every day super app, to bring users with less navigating different apps for different needs, we have already drawn our scale strategy which depends our target of users and timeline ”

Catch is promising to create more affordable options for consumers to use ride-hailing cars without feeling the burden of price.

“We want to learn our competitor’s experience and weakness to provide good policies and efficient service in our platform’s users and drivers“, added Nafie.

The startup is focusing on the East African Market. Even though it’s first launching Ethiopia, Kenya will be next and eventually Sudan in the next two years.