Marti Technologies Begins Monetizing Ride-Hailing Super App With Drivers Paying Subscription Fees

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By Meg Flippin, Benzinga

Marti Technologies, Inc. (AMEX: MRT), which is the top urban mobility app in Türkiye as per data cited in its most recent investor presentation, has begun monetizing its ride-hailing service, selling drivers subscription packages to access ride requests from Marti’s growing rider base, which is now around 1.3 million. By the end of the year, the company is targeting 1.6 million users.

Under its initial monetization strategy, drivers pay Marti monthly subscription fees to receive ride requests from riders. The company says it has over 225,000 registered drivers using its app. In the first half of 2024, Marti’s driver base increased by 60%.

Drivers Are Willing To Pay For Access To Riders

Marti, which bills itself as the only ride-hailing company in Türkiye that can handle large volumes of rides, does face competition from offline ride-hailing services in the country. Still, the company says that none of the smaller services have a mobile app that streamlines the process of hailing a ride. Instead, they rely on voice calls and text messages to connect drivers and riders. Such inefficiency results in a lower volume of ride requests from those service providers, reports Marti. Nonetheless, the company says drivers are willing to pay upwards of $300 per month for that type of offline access to riders, which means Marti can also charge that much.

To maximize its monetization efforts and to make it equitable for drivers, Marti’s driver subscription package prices are set to dynamically adjust to reflect the level of real-time ride requests that Marti directs to its drivers. During busy times, Marti can charge more for access.

Before this monetization, Marti was focused solely on growing the number of riders and drivers on its app, a strategy the company says is paying off.

“The first half of 2024 was a period in which we significantly exceeded our ride-hailing targets, demonstrating that demand for ride-hailing in Türkiye is even higher than we anticipated,” Oguz Alper Oktem, founder and CEO, said when reporting earnings at the end of September. “In the first half of 2024, in addition to achieving our new rider and driver acquisition targets, we also increased our efforts to retain existing riders and drivers in a capital-efficient manner.”

Standing Out From The Pack

Marti is different from its rivals, which the company credits for its growth. To connect drivers and riders, the company launched its super app in 2019, and in under five years has morphed into a leader in the marketplace. Not only does it match riders with cars easily and efficiently, but it also has motorcycle-hailing and taxi-hailing services, and operates a large fleet of rental e-mopeds, e-bikes and e-scooters.

Another differentiator is its concentration throughout Türkiye, particularly in Istanbul. With an unofficial population of over 20 million people, Istanbul is the largest city in Europe; bigger than cities like London, Paris and Berlin. Of the company’s 225,000 registered drivers, more than 167,000 are in Istanbul. The company says that compares to some 21,000 taxis operating in the city.

“Monetization is constantly on our mind,” said company executives during a recent earnings conference call. “We look at drivers' behavior, we look at riders' behavior. When the pilot programs come alive, the profitability of the company will change significantly.”

Featured photo by Tolga Ahmetler on Unsplash

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