Emerging Leaders

Lyft is going back to its roots, and introduced its carpooling service Lyft Carpool which matches commuters with drivers going the same route. Lyft’s predecessor Zimride was exactly that service. Lyft Carpool is different than Lyft Line as drivers of the new service have their predetermined route and know they will drive from A to B at a specific time during the day. Such a service already exists in Europe — called Blablacar — and has become quite popular all over the continent, and especially in Russia. However, Blablacar is used for inter-city travel, so it allows a passenger to catch a ride with someone going from Paris to Amsterdam, for example. (Disclosure: GSV owns shares in Lyft)

Lyft Carpool is yet another innovative service that will hopefully help improve traffic and solve some of the associated problems. It launched in the Bay Area last week, and will possibly also launch in other popular areas in the U.S. soon.

In regards to cost, “Drivers on Lyft Carpool would only be able to recover the cost of operating their vehicle,” said Emily Castor, Lyft’s Director of Transportation Policy. “The mileage reimbursement rate is mandated by the IRS at 54 cents a mile. They will be able to earn up to $10, but they won’t be able to profit from their participation.”

Music streaming leader Spotify announced a $1 billion debt financing, but more importantly, it also announced its launch in Indonesia — a country of 238 million with a very young demographic profile where 29% of the population is below the age of 18. Indonesia is a large new opportunity, but attracting new users will also have its difficulties: connectivity is poor, with 4G coverage being spotty; Indonesian’s purchasing power is also just a fraction of other countries, and getting a plan will not be for many (despite the monthly subscription there being just $3.74). (Disclosure: GSV owns shares in Spotify)

Spotify has now captured almost every important geography, with the exception of Japan and India — two locations they might enter soon as well.

Snapchat just made a huge move into becoming a larger and even more important communication platform. Last week, the LA-based company launched a new version of its app, allowing users to call (audio or video) friends at any time. Previously, video calls were only possible when both users were in the app at the same time. The new Snapchat also added fun stickers, and the ability to send pictures from your camera roll…

Snapchat continues to gain ground against other communication apps, which is evidenced by the hyper growth of daily video views — now standing at over 8 billion per day, up from 2 billion per day in May last year. With over 100 million daily active users, this implies that Snapchatters are watching about 7–8 times more videos per day as Facebookians. Quite impressive.

Snapchat Daily Video Views (Billion)

Source: Company announcements and news reports

As published in this week’s A 2 Apple: http://www.a2apple.com/