Uber gearing up to launch in Pakistan

Today, Uber’s career page points to a few interesting vacancies, which would suggest they’re set to enter Pakistan. The online taxi behemoth is looking for a “general manager”, “operations and logistics manager”, and a “marketing manager,” for Lahore, the country’s second-largest city. When, or if, it will arrive is still not 100 percent clear, but this is a promising sign.

I’ve argued before about how Pakistan’s growth trajectory seems to suggest it’s a market ripe for disruption in the online taxi hailing space. Macroeconomic conditions aren’t very different to those of India, where Uber recently announced plans to invest US$1 billion in an effort to wrest control. And this is a market generally exploding all over Asia, with three unicorns in China alone.

Pakistan, with an estimated population of 200 million, is a market largely untapped when it comes to taxi apps. There have been efforts in the past, with Rocket Internet-backed EasyTaxi as well as homegrown startups such as Savaaree, but they’ve largely failed to make enough of a dent. However, with explosive growth of high-speed internet and Uber’s demonstrated willingness to tweak its model for accepting cash payments, there seems to be no reason why a concerted effort won’t work in Pakistan.