Summon (company)
| Industry | Transportation |
|---|---|
| Founded | January 2012 |
| Founder | Aarjav Trivedi |
| Defunct | November 2014 |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, United States |
Area served | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Services | Vehicle for hire |
| Website | blog |
Summon (originally InstantCab) was a vehicle for hire company operating in portions of Silicon Valley. The company was shut down in November 2014.
Customers were able to pay with Google Wallet.[1]
History
The idea for Summon came after Aarjav Trivedi, its CEO and Founder, waited for over an hour for a bus and then a cab to take him to the airport. He missed an international flight because both were late. Trivedi created InstantCab (later rebranded as Summon) to give people a simple, fast, reliable, and inexpensive form of transportation. Previously, Trivedi founded RideCell which focused on fleet automation to making on-demand transportation fleets easier to manage and access.
Summon was selected to participate in the Winter 2012 Y Combinator meet.[2] Summon received funding in 2012 from venture capital and angel investors in Silicon Valley including Khosla Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, General Catalyst, Andreessen Horowitz, Facebook Ex-COO Owen Van Natta and Delicious founder Joshua Schachter.[2]
In February 2014, after rebranding from InstantCab to Summon, the company raised another round of funding from existing investors and new investors such as BMW Ventures.[3][4]
The company also offered drivers extra pay to transport disabled passengers.[5]
Drivers
Taxi drivers were able to sign up to drive for Summon. Taxi drivers were able to get a credit card swiper from Summon for use with street hails or non-Summon customers.[6]
Surge pricing
Summon opposed a dynamic pricing model.[7] Instead of surge pricing, Summon used flat fares on busy times and event days.[8] In addition, it offers a FareBack program, which gives customers a portion of their ride cost back as credits to use on future Summon rides.[9]
Regulatory issues
On March 8, 2013, Summon received a cease and desist letter from San Francisco International Airport, claiming that its community drivers were trespassing by unlawfully conducting business operations on airport property without a permit. Summon responded that its personal drivers were complying with the law because they were not picking up customers at the airport or engaging in commercial activities on airport property.[10][11] Other vehicle for hire companies operating in San Francisco also received similar cease and desist letters from San Francisco International Airport.[12]
In September 2013, the California Public Utilities Commission legalized vehicle for hire companies.[13][14] Summon was the first ridesharing company to receive its operating permit from the California Public Utilities Commission, which it received on February 24, 2014.[15]
References
- ^ "Easily Pay for Summon Rides with Google Wallet!". Summon.
- ^ a b Lawler, Ryan (March 15, 2013). "Y Combinator-Backed Summon Provides a Hybrid Alternative to Ride-Sharing and Taxi Apps". TechCrunch.
- ^ Lawler, Ryan (February 19, 2014). "With Funding From BMW And Khosla Ventures, InstantCab rebrands as Summon". TechCrunch.
- ^ "InstantCab Rebrands as Summon, Backed by BMW in Expansion Round". The Wall Street Journal. February 19, 2014.
- ^ Said, Carolyn (April 16, 2014). "As Uber, Lyft, Sidecar grow, so do concerns of disabled". San Francisco Chronicle.
- ^ "O% (Yes, Zero!) Credit Card Processing Fees and Same Day Deposit for Taxi and Commercial Drivers". Summon.
- ^ Said, Carolyn (April 16, 2014). "Summon matches Uber, Lyft price cuts". San Francisco Chronicle.
- ^ "Delivering when it counts the most: Flat Fares on New Year's Eve". Summon.
- ^ YEUNG, KEN (January 11, 2014). "InstantCab unveils new FareBack program to save riders up to 30% on trips, adds 3x more drivers". TheNextWeb.
- ^ "Letter from the San Francisco International Airport". Summon.
- ^ Huet, Ellen (July 30, 2013). "Ride-share drivers cited at SFO for trespassing". San Francisco Chronicle.
- ^ Lawler, Ryan (April 4, 2013). "SFO Serves Cease-And-Desist Letters to Keep Ride-Sharing Companies From Operating at the Airport". TechCrunch.
- ^ Yeung, Ken (September 19, 2013). "California Becomes First State To Regulate Ridesharing Services benefiting Uber, Lyft, Sidecar, and Summon". TheNextWeb.
- ^ Healey, Jon (July 30, 2013). "State to L.A.: Hands off Uber, Lyft, Sidecar and Summon". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Said, Carolyn (April 16, 2014). "THE TECHNOLOGY CHRONICLES: Summon gets first California "rideshare" permit". San Francisco Chronicle.