In fact, thereā€™s enough room in global markets for competitors to thrive, and even break evenā€”a feat Uber is far from accomplishing. Startups in these ā€œfrontier marketsā€ arenā€™t worried about the ride-hailing firm as a competitor, such as Bykea.

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ā€œThe growth is costing [Uber] too much money, so I think theyā€™ll restrict themselves to certain geographies,ā€ said , the founder of Bykea. ā€œIt takes coming to Karachi to realize why the most powerful company in the world has less than 10 percent of market shareā€ in the bike category. Uber, which appears to operate in Pakistan, did not immediately reply for comment.

Maayr says Uberā€™s failure in the motorbike industry, specifically within Pakistan, is that ā€œthey were addressing a market which was not very savvy in English.ā€ (Such an oversight is a problem that has been documented by Crunchbase News in the past.) And unlike Uber, Maayrā€™s startup claims it breaks even. That financial security in an industry known for steep losses encouraged investors to put $5.7 million into the companyā€™s Series A.

Maayr said that his real competitor is Uber-owned Careem. Also, while not in the same region, Ā falls into a similar bucket as it focuses heavily on motor-bike sharing, and he thinks logistics will make up a large part of Bykeaā€™s business in the future.

The CEO of ³§¾±²Ō²µ²¹±č“Ē°ł±šā€™s Beam, , who I met for coffee and Chia seed lemonade hours before he hopped on his flight back to Singapore, has also found success in prioritizing the nuances of local markets. For context, and sold its business to Grab. Uber has a 27.5 percent stake in Grab as a result of the sale.

ā€œItā€™s the problem that US companies face when they try to set up businesses in such a fragmented place,ā€ Jiang said, referring to Southeast Asiaā€™s diversity from country to country.

Jiang calls Beamā€™s flexibility the ā€œlast man standing approachā€ amid the big competitors. Beamā€™s more modest footprint letā€™s it customize its product to the city itā€™s in.

For example, the scooter accessibility turns off during Typhoon season in Korea. And after Rundle Mall in Adelaide complained about Uber-owned scooters, Beam listened to the city and didnā€™t offer scooters in that region. Limiting access, Jiang says, is in the company’s best interest.

This is especially true for Singapore, where the company is headquartered. Jiang, who worked at both Uber and previously (both companies known for their rapid, sometimes reckless, growth), was told by Singapore officials that Beam canā€™t offer a scooter to the average consumer until around. And unlike Uber, which in its early days had a tendency to flout local laws in hopes that consumer demand would make it too big to shut down, Beam toed the government line.

ā€œIf they want us to wait for a license,ā€ Jiang said, ā€œweā€™re going to wait for a license.ā€

Meanwhile, Uber took a step out of Singapore with its scooter business, citing a reprioritization of efforts.

Yet Beam keeps it headquarters in Singapore. The location, despite the ban, gives Beam intimate access to local markets, engineering talent, and also a shot at ³§¾±²Ō²µ²¹±č“Ē°ł±šā€™s business in 2040.Ā Furthermore, neither founder seems incredibly intimidated by Uber. Both founders cited Uberā€™s fragmented distribution, reckless attitude, and inability to work with the local clientele and government as the reason it is sputtering abroad. It has given both companies market share, and confidence, that they can dominate.

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The company announced that $2 billion of ā€™s previous financial commitments will be targeted towards its well-established Indonesian operations. Indonesia is Grabā€™s largest market and also the home of its biggest regional competitor, .

SoftBank CEO said thereā€™s plans for a second Grab HQ in Indonesia, . While the $2 billion capital commitment to the country — made possible by SoftBank — isnā€™t new, Son reportedly said that ā€œon top of that, we will invest more.ā€

For SoftBank, which recently announced a second Vision Fund, making bets on ride-hailing companies isnā€™t a recent trend. Back in 2018, the Japanese conglomerate invested roughly $7 billion in Uber. SoftBank also invested in Chinaā€™s and . One analyst put SoftBankā€™s stakes in these three companies as worth anywhere between $22.1 billion and $26.5 billion, .

As weā€™ve covered time, time, and time again, ³§¾±²Ō²µ²¹±č“Ē°ł±šā€™s Go-Jek and Indonesiaā€™s Grab keep adding cash to their seemingly never-ending funding rounds (Grabā€™s Series H and Go Jekā€™s Series F.) Itā€™s because ride-hailing, you guessed it, costs a lot of money. But, as our EIC Alex Wilhelm tell us, the industry can wrack up billions in bets and hopes without even proving profit. It shows that some investors are okay with a future of potential profit, as they stay distracted by booming growth in the present.

Plus, as TechCrunchā€™s , this capital commitment could help Grab be in better cahoots with the local Indonesian government and the tech scene there, since the announcement was made after a meeting between the company, SoftBank, Indonesiaā€™s president and other high-ranking officials.

To wrap up with some context, Grab and Go-Jek are both barreling toward become ā€˜super-appsā€™ Ā in Southeast Asia and beyond. Iā€™m betting it wonā€™t be too long until weā€™re back here reporting on the new cash, or promises, the companies make to do so.

Illustration: .