Verifone, the world’s leader in payments and commerce solutions, announced an expansion of its taxi and car-for-hire electronic hailing (e-hail), payment and media business with the acquisition of Curb, a business that connects people in approximately 60 U.S. cities with rides from professional, insured, and fully-licensed taxi drivers. Using Curb’s e-hail app, passengers take more than 100,000 rides each month. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Based in Alexandria, Virginia, Curb has partnered with more than 90 cab companies and provides e-hail access to 35,000 cars from a smartphone app that combines hailing and payment. Curb’s media-enabled payment terminals are installed in approximately 15,000 cars, adding to the approximately 40,000 U.S. taxis already equipped with Verifone payment terminals.
The acquisition enhances Verifone’s e-hail and payment app business with additional technology and an expanded network of vehicles and drivers across the United States. Curb’s e-hail app for iPhone and Android devices includes web- and SMS text-based booking tools that will enable Verifone Taxi Systems to aggressively improve and scale its e-hail offering as well as its complete suite of taxi technology solutions, empowering its taxi clients to more effectively compete with transportation network companies.
VERIFONE BRINGS STABILITY AND EXPERTISE TO GROWING TAXI E-HAIL MARKET
“We are combining Curb’s booking technology set and geographic footprint with Verifone Taxi Systems’ global presence and expertise in secure payment, and cloud-based dispatch and fleet management tools,” said Amos Tamam, Senior Vice President, Global Taxi Systems for Verifone. “This will allow us to continue our push into the growing market for apps that provide riders with the convenience of connecting to professional vehicles and drivers through their mobile phone. We’re now even better equipped to offer convenient, dependable, and secure ride booking tools for the taxi operators, drivers and passengers that, for our 2015 fiscal year, will have participated in more than 180 million trips in Verifone-equipped taxis in the U.S.”
“Passengers are looking for the assurance that they are hailing safe, regulated, insured vehicles,” said Sanders Partee, Curb co-founder and president. “Verifone has the geographic reach and critical mass of connected vehicles to ensure that Curb can provide the safest, most reliable rides to consumers looking for an e-hail and mobile payment option.”
DRIVING INNOVATION IN TAXI AND CAR-FOR-HIRE
Together, Verifone and Curb power more than 90,000 taxis globally, including over 45,000 media-enabled vehicles in the U.S. When launched in 2007, Curb (formerly TaxiMagic) became the first mobile app for booking a ride, while Verifone was the first to deliver a taxi payment application with the launch of Way2ride two years ago, followed by integrated e-hailing functionality this year.
