TechCrunch April 23, 2014
Now that TechCrunch has launched slideshows galleries I’m thinking of lining one up to illustrate the proliferation of on-demand car services/taxi apps in Europe. Earlier today there was Estonia’s Taxify taking in a $100,000 seed. And here’s another pulling in investment: Talixo, this time hailing (ho-ho) from Germany but with ambitions to expand beyond its home market down the road. (As my TC colleague Ingrid Lunden put it, taxi/ride sharing apps are the photo sharing apps of 2014.)
The Berlin-based startup, which was founded in 2012 and launched a pilot service in the city last summer, has closed what it describes as a 5x oversubscribed round. Unfortunately it’s not actually disclosing how much it’s raised — beyond saying it’s in the “low” seven digits. So let’s assume it’s €1 million then. Investors in Talixo’s new round are the Investment Bank of Berlin; Matthew Witt, former COO of booking.com; and an unnamed private investor.