Taxi startup Hailo to shut down operations in North America

British taxi-app Hailo chief Tom Barr has announced that the company will pull out of North America “where the astronomical marketing spend required to compete is making profitability for any one player almost impossible.”

This decision, of course, is the result of Hailo failing to steal market share from competing startups Uber and Lyft, both of which are draining millions to uproot the entire taxi industry.

‘Sharpened focus on Europe, Asia and services’

According to Barr:

This has been a difficult decision to make, and we are very sorry for the impact on our colleagues who will leave the company and are doing everything we can to help them with their future careers.

We and our investors are confident that our sharpened focus on Europe, Asia and services will help us have the biggest possible impact for our passengers and drivers.

We are proud to announce that Hailo co-founder Jay Bregman is back at it again. He is starting a new business and so has decided to leave Hailo, where he remains a significant shareholder.

London roots

Hailo was founded in London in 2011 and expanded to North America in 2013 after raising a $30m funding round.

It has raised over $120m to date.