US giant Uber on Monday announced its foray into fintech services with the launch of its payment app, Uber Money. Peter Hazlehurst, the head of Uber Money, said that Uber Money is a team working on financial products and technologies.
The company, as a part of this product, will be providing Uber drivers benefits from the fintech service with an instant-pay option wherein the drivers can review their earnings after each ride and can redeem the same, accordingly. The company is also rolling out a debit card globally and an account with Green Dot, a US-based bank holding company, making it a cashback-enabled card.
According to reports, the instant pay service has already taken off in the US, with over 70% of driver payments made using instant pay.
Furthermore, Uber added that it would be introducing its own Uber Wallet, wherein the earners and the spenders will easily be able to track down their earning and spending history, manage and move their finances, and even discover new Uber financial products all at one stop. The Uber driver app, which will soon be launched, will include Uber Wallet, along with being included in the Uber and Uber Eats apps.
Additionally, Uber has also joined the bandwagon of co-branded credit cards as it said that it was relaunching the Uber Credit Card in collaboration with Barclays with rewards given in the form of Uber Cash from spending on any of the Uber platform.
Is Uber imitating Ola?
On the other hand, homegrown Ola had launched its fintech services in the form of Ola Money in 2015 that allowed its users to pay for their rides & bills, transfer money, shop, and so on.
The Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati-led company even launched its credit payment service, Ola Credit in 2016, that allowed its users to pay for their rides later on, for up to seven days along with the launch of similar digital payment service, Ola Money Postpaid, which was rolled out in 2018 and has recorded a 30% MoM growth. Ola Money Postpaid offers its users credit for 15 days. The cab-hailing platform also launched Ola Money-SBI Credit Card this year, along with its plans to issue over10 million credit cards by 2022.
With the launch of Uber Money and the company’s further financial plans, it looks like the company’s imitating Ola’s strategy. The fintech sector in India is proliferating, with $ 6.97 billion raised by 2,707 Indian fintech startups from 2014-18.
