Taiwanese ride-hailer nets $5m from Japanese VC firm

Taiwan Intelligent Life, a unit of ride-hailing company Taiwan Taxi, has raised US$5 million from Headline Asia, a Tokyo-based VC firm.

Under the deal, Headline Asia will acquire a seat on the Taiwan Intelligent Life’s board. The investment aims to accelerate the expansion of 55688, a ride-hailing platform created by the Taiwan-based firm in 2011, into a super app that offers lifestyle services.

Photo credit: Taiwan Taxi

Currently, 55688 has over 6.5 million users and gives access to services such as dry cleaning, housekeeping, and moving on top of its ride-hailing offering.

Founded in 2005, Taiwan Taxi serves nearly 80 million customers every year with over 22,000 taxi cabs, accounting for 24% of Taiwan’s taxi industry.

“By leveraging the high traffic volume of our existing ride-hailing service, we can buoy other relevant services by leaning on big data and AI. Our higher-margin services will supplement those of lower margin,” said Tracy Lin, CEO of Taiwan Taxi, in a statement.

Meanwhile, Headline Asia is focused on early-stage tech companies, with investments in more than 100 startups and nine firms during their IPOs. Since its founding, the VC firm has backed unicorns including Groupon, Farfetch, Freee KK, Yeahka, WealthNavi, and 17Live.

The VC scout for family businesses

Taiwan’s economic development is closely related to family businesses, accounting for over 60% of the publicly listed and over-the-counter enterprises in Taiwan, which are mainly in the financial, industrial, and IT industries.

Headline Asia partner Joseph Huang (left) and Taiwan Taxi CEO Tracy Lin / Photo credit: Headline Asia

“We’ve seen potential ideas in industries like airlines, travel, hotels, and banking, and it is incredible what the first generation has built,” Joseph Huang, partner at Headline Asia, told Tech in Asia. “We are now looking at new thinking that needs to be incorporated into these companies to take them to the next level.”

Spearheaded by the second generation of a family business, 55688 is looking to compete with Southeast Asian super apps Grab and Gojek by eventually expanding its services beyond Taiwan into Asia.

See also: How Grab built its lead in the food delivery war

However, Taiwan Taxi has faced some challenges.