Cambodian Startup Meal Temple Group Launches Ride-hailing App in Laos

Meal Temple Group, the Cambodia-based operator of online platforms, has launched DriveUp.app, a new ride-hailing startup servicing the Laos market.

In a statement, Meal Temple Group said DriveUp.app will offer ride-hailing services of taxis, tuktuks, and samlors in Laos, a first in the country. More than 100 taxis are already on the platform. Tens of tuktuks are also being trained to join DriveUp.app.

Aside from offering transport services to foreigners visiting Laos, DriveUp.app also offers drivers in the capital a new way to find customers.

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“This is a first for Laos, and we are pushing further towards our super-app in the Mekong region,” a spokesman for Meal Temple said.

Meal Temple Group first entered Laos by launching its food delivery services. It aims to become a super app in the country. Its foray in Laos came less than two months after it invested in DrukRide, a transportation app in Bhutan.

“Vientiane is the perfect city to test our service for the first time, as competition is really small, prices are really elastic depending on cars, drivers and customers, and tourism is growing, so the market is ripe for disruption here.” says Angele Fargette, product manager for DriveUp.app in Laos.

DriveUp.app’s launch in Laos comes at a time when the country’s tourism industry is in a boom. According to data cited by Meal Temple Group, more than 5 million tourists visit the country yearly and the number is expected to double in the next 10 years.

“DriveUp.app wants to benefit from this growth and offer a more convenient way for tourists to move around,” according to the release.

In October last year, Meal Temple raised an undisclosed six-digit dollar sum from investors in Australia and Europe.

Meal Temple Group started in 2013 as a food delivery platform. It now has 13 online platforms, including grocery delivery GroceryDelivery.asi, tuktuks and taxis booking Driveme.la, and restaurant booking Khmer Table.

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