According to an Energias Market Research report, the global ride-sharing market is estimated to grow 16% annually over the next few years to become a $148.7 billion industry by 2024 driven by the continuing penetration of smartphones. While Uber remains the leader in the global market, there are several regional players that are giving Uber a tough run for its money within their countries. One such player is Israel-based Billion Dollar Unicorn Gett.

Gett’s Offerings

Gett was founded in 2010 by serial entrepreneur Dave Shahar Waiser and Roi More. Prior to setting up Gett, Dave had founded the Russian entity of publicly traded Comverse and social TV offering Loyalize. After selling Loyalize to publicly-traded company Function(X), Dave set up Gett. Previously known as GetTaxi, it is a ride-sharing service that operates in over 120 countries, including New York, London, Moscow, and Tel-Aviv. Gett is Europe’s largest on-demand car service company by revenues and it operates in New York under the name of Juno.

While Gett may be a ride-sharing service provider, it is still very different from the likes of Uber and Lyft. Gett links consumers to registered cabs such as the yellow taxis in New York and the black cabs in London. It claims that by connecting people with regular taxi operators, it is able to provide a higher quality of service and drivers to its riders. New York and London are its biggest markets with more than 45,000 taxi drivers, or more than half of New York’s taxi drivers, associated with it. Similarly, in London, it has a big following with more than half of the black taxi drivers working with it.

Gett has also marked its presence in the industry by tying up with organizations. Gett for Business is the global leader in the corporate on-demand transportation market. It allows companies and their riders to book rides and track expenses worldwide through a single platform. The company claims to have over 18,000 organizations as its customers including Google, VolksWagen, Dominos, and KLM, to name a few.

Gett’s Financials

Gett does not disclose its detailed financials. But analysts estimate that the company is doing more than $1 billion in gross revenues a year. It is targeting to deliver adjusted EBITDA earnings in the countries that it operates in.

Gett has raised $693 million in venture funding so far from investors including Volkswagen Group, Da Vinci Capital, MCI Capital, and Baring Vostok Capital Partners. Its last round of funding was held in June this year when it raised $80 million at a valuation of $1.4 billion from existing investors including Volkswagen and Vostok Capital Partners. While the valuation may be lofty, Vostok has actually cut Gett’s valuation by 6% in the current round.

As a point of comparison, Uber recently reported revenues of $2.7 billion for a quarter with an adjusted loss of $404 million. It is expected to be valued at $62 billion. The ride-sharing market is witnessing increasing competition across markets. The UK itself is getting to be a crowded market with Uber and BlaBla car, and now even Ola, the Indian ride-sharing service, announcing plans to expand. In the US, Uber and Lyft are the clear leaders in most markets. But by directly connecting with taxi drivers, Gett is managing to stay clear of the various union issues that Uber has to deal with.

Today, most of us have used a ride-sharing service. I would like to know from users how they determine which cab to hail? Do you prefer to hail a cab through an app, or are you committed to a particular ride-sharing service? And, if so, why?