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taxify

Taxify- The best transportation platform that enabled cash-free rides for the first time in the world

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The bolt which is previously known as Taxify is today a well-known transportation platform in Estonia. With its miscellaneous service, Taxify is working in over 35 countries and 150+ cities. The service ranges from food delivery, ride-hailing, micro-mobility, etc. It is set up in 2013, while in a short period the firm acquired more than 30 million customers all over the world. Also, Bolt gave an excellent platform for 1 million+ drivers to find the rides easily. Under the guidance of Markus Villig, the firm expanded its business in many countries. Includes, Australia, Europe, North America, and West Asia.

What is Taxify?

Taxify is Europe based start-up that provides an excellent transportation platform. The company is later on renamed as Bolt. Ride-hailing, food delivery, and micro-mobility are its well-known services. As well, the company’s Bolt app-enabled to get rides with just a few clicks on smartphones. Presently, the app runs on almost all OS including, iOS, Android, and Windows.

In fact, the best thing about this app and other services of Bolt, customer safety is on top. All the drivers get the licenses after a complete background check. However, to call a ride is as easy as safe with the Bolt app. The user has to put all details like dropping point, destination, and then can request a ride. After confirmation from the driver, the ride is all set to go.

Glimpse to Founder’s Life- Markus Villig

In London, at the time when people afraid to take Uber ride, Markus set up Taxify. A transportation platform that turned out as a trustworthy platform. When Villig was 19, he aimed to develop the best platform for taxis in Estonia, and Tallinn. And so, he did it with setting up Taxify in 2013. Under his policies, the business of the firm grew rapidly and it acquired many customers. Today, it is a billion-dollar firm providing employment to more than 1 Lakh drivers. As well, it acquired over 5 Million satisfied customers.

He is presently CEO of the company, who is well known as one of the youngest CEOs of Europe. Forbes included Markus’s name on the list of 30 under 30 in the category of Youngest Tech CEO in Europe.

The Backstory of Foundation

At the age of 12, a normal adult is dreamt of having fun and enjoying life. While Markus Villig who is the founder of Taxify dreamed to set up the tech start-up. Following his dream, he plunged into entrepreneurship when he was just 19 years old kid. At that time, Villig was studying at the University of Tartu as a computer science student. But he left the college after completing one semester and focus on his company. In 2013, when he set up the company, he took a loan of €5,000 from his parents.

The vision behind the formation of Taxify was to avail the platform for Riga and Tallinn taxi drivers. Earlier, Villig’s parents helped him in the company work. They handled customer support by themselves. However, Markus hired one developer so that the business can be explored further.  With all efforts, finally, the service was launched in 2013.

Exploring The Business

Taxify a European start-up started by 19 years old Markus, turn out like a billion-dollar company in just six years. In a few years, the company also started the service in London. Earlier, it acquired a local taxi company in London and offered the operating license. But unfortunately, it had to shut down the service in London.

However, the strong determination and clear vision of Markus helped to raised the business despite all odds. Soon the company applied for a new license and re-launched the service in London.

After that, Taxify explored the service in another part of the country including Lisbon, and Paris. In 2018, the firm expanded its business into Dockless Electric Scooters by launching them into Paris. It was the first time for the company to launch under a brand name called ‘Bolt’. Also, it was the time when Taxify rise as a first-ever platform that integrates these with ride-hailing service. Yet, the best part was all these can operate with a single app.

Taxify jumped into other businesses

As of 2019, Taxify announced two services. One of them is the Bolt Food delivery service and another is the Green Plan. The first service, Bolt Food has launched in Tallinn and thereafter explored in another part of Europe. However, the Green Plan deals with reducing adverse effects on the environment due to the transportation industry. Especially, focusing on offsetting the contribution to the CO2 emission caused due to Bolt transportation service.

Achievements of Taxify

The company named many honors since its foundation. It launched the transportation app that became the first such app in the world which enabled cash-free rides. As well, it was the second company in South Africa to launch a travel app. Also, Taxify enabled the first platform that integrated other services with ride-hailing platform.

As of 2020, the firm was ranked third in the FT 1000. It honored as Europe’s Fastest-Growing Companies 2020 as per the Financial Times.

namecheap

Namecheap Bans Domain Names Containing Words Related to COVID-19

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The deadly coronavirus continues its rampage as it spreads aggressively throughout Europe and North America. With over 4,50,000 people have tested positive and causalities exceeding 20,000, the virus has grown to become a global pandemic. Almost all spheres of life have been hit by the virus, with most educational institutions and offices shutting down. Most non-essential services and industries have been shut in a bid to stop the spread of this viral infection. One of the most significant issues that have surfaced as a result of this global pandemic is the spread of fake news and theories. From around the world, people have been posting faux stories regarding cures and infection theories which has been spreading false information. Governments across the globe are trying to put an end to the peddling of incorrect information through various means. In this article, we will be taking a look at one such way which has been adopted by domain registrar company Namecheap.

Banning Words to Prevent False Information

Namecheap which handles the domain registration of websites, on Wednesday announced that it was prohibiting domains from taking names which contain the words, ‘covid’, ‘coronavirus’ and ‘vaccine’. The full list of words it will not allow to be a part of domain names has been released by the company. This decision has been taken to stop the peddling of false information in such trying times. Any term or phrase that alludes to the COVID-19 pandemic will not get registered as a domain name in the months to come. The LA-based company hopes that such measures will prevent fake products and websites from flooding the internet. Ever since the pandemic spread to Europe and the US, many sites flaunting miracle drugs and cures have popped up all over the internet. Such websites do not provide any medical background or proof and peddle fake products by selling misinformation. This move will go a long way in preventing people from capitalizing on the ongoing worldwide health hazard.

Desperate Measures during Desperate Times

The company’s statement called out all the people who were trying to take advantage of this crisis to make some quick money. Both the company and government authorities are working in tandem to prevent such misinformation and fraudulent products from taking over the internet. The government is also following a very proactive method that aims to stop and take down any such content from the world wide web. The company mailed a copy of its statement to all its customers and emphasized how from now on, it will not allow any domain name containing words or phrases related to the pandemic. In case, legitimate and legally valid companies wish to procure a domain name, including the banned words, they will have to do after contacting the company’s support team. After thorough verification and validation, such companies will be able to register themselves with the company.

Viral Scams

The coronavirus has led to large-scale loss of life around the world. However, fraudulent characters are making use of this deadly virus to scam people and sell fake products. Coronavirus-related scams and abuse has become as viral as the infection itself. With such scams becoming viral, most of the world’s top tech companies are trying to fight this in their ways. E-commerce legends such as Amazon and E-Bay are starting to remove all sellers and listings which claim to have coronavirus cures. These companies have also placed bans and restrictions on the sale of face masks and hand sanitizers, which people seem to be stocking, owing to the crisis.

Furthermore, social media giants such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube are now working together to moderate the content that goes live on their platforms. These companies have also come out with more aggressive approaches to content analysis, review, and removal. Almost all fake videos which are up on YouTube claiming to cure the viral disease have been taken off. Recently, NYC police officials had asked domain registrars too to help in this fight against online scamming, leading to this decision by Namecheap. All these rules and preventive measures will help in tackling forums, websites, and apps that claim to have fake vaccines, cures, and preventing tactics. This step was taken as the last month saw thousands of new domain registrations all peddling phony information. However, such registrar companies took action as soon as NY Attorney General, Letitia James asked them to deploy stringent countermeasures regarding the same. While Namecheap has taken proactive steps to prevent such fraudulent registration, GoDaddy and Endurance seem to still rely on their abuse reporting capabilities. With the viral disease having spread aggressively, it is safe to assume that these companies too will come out with stricter measures in the coming days, as the world comes together to fight the COVID-19.

Lilium

Munich-Based Start-Up Lilium Becomes Europe’s On Of The Most Innovative Companies

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Business in the aviation sector is risky and expensive yet has a vast opportunity. We don’t witness every day that many start-ups are coming up in this field. In 2014, four engineers who were students at the Technical University of Munich showed interest in the aviation industry. A bunch of engineers successfully founded Lilium GmbH in 2015.The founders are Sebastian Born, Matthias Meiner, Patrick Nathen, and Daniel Wiegand. The company is focused on powering personal air vehicle electrically. Aircraft produced by Lilium is capable of VTOL flight. The company is also doing some experimentation and testing on VTOL air taxi designs. VTOL stands for vertical take-off and landing.

About the Founders

Sebastian Born completed his mechanical engineering from the Berlin Institute of Technology. He further acquired his master’s degree from the same university in development and design. He served for years in this university as an R&D Engineer and the next thing he did was co-found Lilium. Currently, he serves at Lilium Aviation as the Head of Verification and Testing.

Matthias also went to the Berlin Institute of Technology and acquired his degree in Mechatronics, Robotics, and Automation Engineering. He also went to Puebla University of the Americas Foundation for learning Artificial Intelligence. For five months, Matthias served as a Ph.D. candidate at the Chair of information-oriented Control. In 2014, he co-founded Lilium.

Patrick Nathan went to the University of Applied Sciences Dusseldorf to acquire his degree in Chemical Engineering. In 2010, he went to Technical University Munich and graduated with a master’s degree in Numerical Simulation and Thermofluid Dynamics. He completed his Ph.D. from the same university. After he co-founded Lilium he became the Head of Calculation & Design. Currently, he serves as the VP Product of the company.

Daniel Wiegand went to the University of Freiburg followed by the University of Glasgow. He also went to the Technical University of Munich. And, that’s how all the co-founders met. Currently, he serves as the CEO of Lilium Aviation.  

History of Lilium

The four engineers started their work on Lilium from 2014 and they founded the company by 2015. It is a new start-up and yet it has managed to raise a $100 million investment fund. They received a lot of support from Business Incubation Center Bavaria, the European Space Agency (ESA), Atomico, Freigiest Capital (an investment company), etc.

After a couple of years of its launch, Lilium revealed The Lilium Eagle, a two-seater type model. It performed its maiden flight Mindelheim-Matthies, Germany on 20th April 2017. This year the company also announced that they hired some great experienced leaders from Gett, Airbus, and Tesla. Later, in September the company raised $90 million in Series B funding. Lilium also announced that they are making a prototype of a five-seater Lilium Jet which is expected to be released in 2025.

Success and Recognition

Within three years of its establishment, Lilium’s idea took off to a whole different level. In 2018, Lilium became the recipient of the award “Early Stage Company of the Year” at Global Cleantech 100 Awards. The company carried out another round of hiring from Airbus and Audi. Lilium has been hiring quite a several employees currently. In 2017, Lilium had only 70 employees which now sum up to 350.

Arnd Muller became the VP Marketing of Lilium in 2018. And, his focus was on the development of the air taxi company and launching its products internationally. At the end of 2018, Lilium hired the company’s first Head of Communications, Oliver Walker-Jones. He was a former employee of Rolls-Royce. In 2019, Lilium hired its first CFO, Christopher Delbruck. On 16th May 2019, the company tested its new five-seater prototype. The company came one step closer to launching air taxi services.

After the maiden flight for the five-seater was successful, Lilium built manufacturing units for its production. In July 2019, The Company received the Red Dot Award for the category Best of the Best Design. In the last funding round of 2020, Lilium raised more than $240 million.

Future Plans

The prototype testing was just to make sure the aircraft can perform all the simulations like vertical takeoff, the transition to horizontal flight, etc. Everything was controllable. Now, they are planning to speed things up a little bit by taking 100km/hr to 300km/hr. Moreover, it will be remote uncontrolled for at least 12-18 months. After this, someone will be put in the aircraft to get certified.

CrowdSPRING

CROWDSPRING – THIS IS HOW ROSS AND MIKE BUILT THE VIRTUAL PLATFORM FOR DESIGN SOLUTIONS

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The design solution has become the fastest growing and the trendiest business ideas in today’s time. There are various sites, apps and even companies available for this. But it was not trendy back in the days. In 2007, Ross Kimbarovsky and Michael Samson founded CrowdSpring, a design solution company and it was officially launched in 2008. They noticed the problems with the design & graphics industry and how individual designers find it difficult to get clients. This was basically a waste of creativity and that’s why the idea of Crowdspring came into his mind. Also, small businesses always struggle to create their unique identities.

Crowdspring – A new perspective on creativity

Ross and Michael started CrowdSpring, a virtual platform to find the best design solutions with the motive of helping small businesses and start-ups to create their own identity by extending service of creating logos, designing the products and sites and naming their brands. Their motto was very clear that ‘creativity knows no border’ which means no matter how small or unconventional the business is, Crowdspring is ready to help with all the kinds of design solutions.

To protect the intellectual property of the companies they received while designing process, Crowdspring signs a legal contract. Another feature of Crowdspring is, they help non-profits NGOs with free design projects to enhance their visibility and empower them to help the unprivileged.

This is how Crowdspring works

If you have a design project and need sourcing from Crowdspring, you need to state a creative brief and your requirements. You get the options as per your budget. You get many options as the designers and freelancers submit their samples to you as per your specifications. The final choice is yours. At the end of the project, the best designer gets the agreed price and you get your designs. While doing this, both parties signed a legal contract. So that they can protect intellectual rights.

How Ross and Michael built Crowdspring together despite being from different backgrounds?

Ross and Mike came from totally different backgrounds. Ross is born in Kiev, Ukraine who initially studied law from the Illinois College of law from 1992-95 and then completed his political science and philosophy degree from Northwestern University from 1999 to 2002.

Currently, Ross Kimbarovsky is the CEO of the company. Before starting Crowdspring, he was a successful lawyer, but his evergreen dream was to start his own tech company. He observed that the market at that time was in dire need of good designs and that’s how Crowdspring emerged. After starting the Crowdspring, his desire to build different business models was still unfulfilled hence he started start-up foundry in 2014 where he helps different start-ups to grow.

Education

Mike came from a totally different field. He completed his MBA from North-western University – Kellogg school of management. With impressive Emmy Award nomination for producing and production management and holding a place with the Director’s Guild of America. He worked for 22 years at IMDb.

The Backstory of Foundation

Both, Mike and Ross were dealing with the same problem before starting the Crowdspring. Mike was finding a way to subcontract video post-production work to India because of India’s very fewer labor costs with the use of the same software as that of the US. Ross was having a problem with the procedure and money involved in getting his company’s website redesigned.

In the beginning, they engaged them in the research. They came across a bunch of Malaysian students who participated in print design competitions. They were impressed. Looking at this, Mike realized that the problem of Graphic design was substantial, and very few people were to solve this. Then they wanted to build something which gives the design solutions.

Bottom Line

The start wasn’t easy, and it was clear that companies with less revenue face problems with hiring a designer or staff to create logos and graphics which make their companies stand out. Now Crowdspring has almost 220000 creatives from around 195 countries. Overall, Crowdspring has helped more than 60000 entrepreneurs, start-ups and agencies with unique and affordable solutions. Not only this, but Crowdspring has given the opportunity and monetary rewards to many talented designers, printers, and freelancers.

SAP SE

SAP SE – The Largest Company Developing Enterprise Software For Business Operations

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Even a small enterprise needs the help of the IT sector to run his or her business smoothly. With the arrival of digitalization, we don’t realize to the extent we are getting dependent on the internet. Data transfer, data storage, software development has become an integral part of the tertiary sector of the economy. With emerging businesses in every field, the software companies are also flourishing providing them with enterprise software. SAP SE is the world’s leading enterprise software company. It develops software for carrying out numerous business operations and to provide better client-customer relation. Five founders, Dietmar Hopp, Hans-Warner Hector, Hasso Plattner, Klaus Tchira, and Claus Wellenreuther founded the company in 1972. It is one of the oldest companies in the sphere of software development and one of the most successful as well. It is a company that serves worldwide with an employee count of more than 100,000.

About the Founders

All the five founders worked at IBM before founding SAP SE. When the company was founded Dietmar Hopp served as the CEO of the company for ten years. In 1998, Dietmar became the Chairman of the supervisory board. And, from 2003 he served as a board member for a couple of years.

Hans-Werner Hector is famous as a German software engineer and an entrepreneur. His net worth is $1.9 billion. It was through the success of SAP SE he became one of the richest men in the world. Due to some arguments and conflicts of interest with his partners, he left the company in 1997.

Hasso Plattner served as the Chairman of the supervisory board of SAP SE since 2003. After the financial year 2017, Forbes reported his net worth to be $13.1 billion. In 2005, he founded Hasso Plattner Ventures, a venture capital fund to support the young entrepreneurs. Currently, he lives in Potsdam, Germany.

Klaus Tchira served as the board member of SAP SE from 1998-2007. In 1995, he founded a non-profit organization, Klaus Tchira foundation for supporting innovative projects. He passed away on 31st March 2015.

Claus Wellenreuther left IBM in1971 and then programmed a financial accountancy system for batch processing. After this, he joined the co-founders of SAP SE and founded the company. He also founded DCW software in 1982 which SAP acquired in 2003.

Origin of SAP SE

Initially, IBM received the rights for working on Scientific Data Systems (SDS)/ SAPE Software project. Five scientists from the AI sector of the company worked in it until the project was called off. So, instead of leaving it midway the co-founders of SAP SE decided to resign from IBM and establish another company. SAP SE is the abbreviation for Systems, Applications & Products in Data Processing.

The Journey of SAP SE

The first client of SAP SE was the German branch of Imperial Chemical Industries. SAP SE was interested in making real-time system software. So, they developed the payrolls and accounting software instead of punch cards. On the contrary, IBM used punch cards for storing the information.

In 1973, the company launched its first commercial product which was known as SAP R/98. After this product, much other modified software was launched using the base model of SAP R. In the late 1970s, SAP R/2 was launched followed by SAP R/3 in 1992. In the meantime, the company shifted its headquarters to Walldorf, Germany.

In the following years, SAP got listed in the German Stock Index DAX and STOXX Europe 50.

Expansion 

From 2012, SAP eventually started showing interest in cloud-based storage. A company in the IT sector always needs to keep up with the changes taking place around the world. So, it started acquiring companies that could help it sell cloud-based products. In 2014, the company acquired Concur Technologies, a cloud-based travel management company for $8.3 billion. This year, the company came into a joint venture with IBM for the same purpose.

To date, the company has acquired more than 70 other companies on an international level. Some of the biggest companies SAP bought are Qualtrics, CallidusCloud, Concur Technologies, Ariba, etc. SAP has a partnership with companies like Adobe, GK Software, CA Technologies, and many more.

The company also plans to invest billions of dollars in sectors like the Internet of Things. By the end of 2020, the Company will invest around €2 billion in sectors like this. The company is also planning to cut employees. Currently, the Company is putting exclusive interest in sectors like AI, ML, IoT, and the blockchain community.

TaskRabbit

TaskRabbit’s Platform Helps Getting Done Daily Chores of Household

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Platforms that provide the service of freelancing have become very common among us. For the past two decades, we have been receiving an enormous response from the freelancers through these websites. But, these websites are mainly about finding skilled people in the IT sector and related departments. Most of the services are related to the sphere of digital marketing that every company needs for its operations. But, have you ever taken a pause and thought about the daily lives of people? For example, what if you have to leave for office early and had no time to go for grocery shopping? Small chores like these in our daily lives are very crucial yet with every passing day we find it difficult to make time for it. And, especially working women can understand the pressure of this who also needs to take care of a family. Leah Busque, an American entrepreneur founded TaskRabbit in 2008. She created this online marketplace to find us freelancers who are up for doing normal daily chores. The platform connects the user to the freelance labor who is willing to do jobs like cleaning, delivery services, etc. TaskRabbit’s headquarters is currently based in San Francisco, California. To date, it serves more than 60 cities in different countries.

Leah Busque

Leah was born on 15th November 1979. She went to Sweet Briar College to acquire her bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Mathematics. She graduated in 2001. Leah worked at IBM before founding TaskRabbit. She served as the CEO of the company from 2008 to 2016. Leah successfully expanded the company’s services to 44 different cities. In 2016, her position changed to Executive Chairwoman of the company.

She became the General Partner at FUEL Capital in 2017. Currently, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Leah has two children.

How did it start?

The idea of creating such a platform to help common people with their daily life chores is very innovative. It is simple but not everyone thinks of it. When Leah thought about it she was still working at IBM. It was one fine night that she along with her husband was going out for dinner. But, unfortunately, she had a pet dog to feed and was out of dog food.

This is how the idea to create an online network came into her mind. A platform where they can state their needs and someone will take up the job and they will be paid. Both, Leah and her husband were into technology so the later part of the founding story isn’t that tough. Everything happened so quickly that before the couple stepped out for dinner, Leah bought the domain Runmyerrand.com.

The Next Step

Leah started working in it from the very second the idea crossed her mind. She took this seriously and left her job after four months. They applied in an incubator program in 2009 and became one of the 25 companies that were invited to participate. It went well and they were able to raise $1.8 million as the seed funding. It took some time to build everything starting from the UI to the payment platform. After a few tests, the company hired its first full-time employee, Brian Leonard.

The Success

In April 2010, Leah finally changed the name of the company to TaskRabbit. Initially, the office of the company was situated in Boston which moved to San Francisco Bay Area in 2010. Next year, the company raised $5 million in Series A funding led by Shasta Ventures, First Round Capital, Baseline Ventures, etc. By this time the company had 13 employees and nearly 2,000 “runners”. By the end of 2011, TaskRabbit raised another $17.8 million in Series B funding.

In 2012, the company expanded its services to New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Illinois, etc. Next year, TaskRabbit hired Stacey Brown-Philpot as the first COO of the company. In 2016, she became the CEO of the company and currently holds the same position. In 2015, the number of freelance labor turned out to 15,000. Gradually, the services were expanded to 47 cities of the U.S., 4 cities of the U.K., and 1 Canadian city.

In 2017, IKEA Group announced the acquisition of the company. It declared the company would continue to operate independently. Currently, there are 60,000 workers that are finding jobs through the platform of TaskRabbit.