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I recently put together a collection showing the evolution over time of the top ridesharing/taxi hailing startups (using content from the Internet Archive) like

I recently put together a collection showing the evolution over time of the top ridesharing/taxi hailing startups (using content from the Internet Archive) like Lyft, Shuddle, Uber, Sidecar, and BlaBlaCar [1]. One thing that surprised me the most when putting it together - Zipcar was founded way back in June 2000, well before Uber/Sidecar/Lyft, and is still around alive and well today [2]. I often feel like it does not get enough credit for helping to improve the transportation space, especially compared to attention given to Uber/this new class of transportation-focused startups. [1] You can check out the collection here: http://www.startuptimelines.org/collections/uber_lyft_taxi_startup_app_competitors/ http://www.startuptimelines.org/collections/uber_lyft_taxi_s... [2] http://www.startuptimelines.org/startup-timelines/zipcar/ http://www.startuptimelines.org/startup-timelines/zipcar/

danso 11y ago
Maybe I missed this (it's hard to peruse the milestones/headlines from the timeline layout), but there's no mention on the timeline of Zipcar being bought out by Avis in 2013. While Zipcar is still alive in name today, I don't think everyone would call it an unmitigated success: http://www.theverge.com/2014/4/1/5553910/driven-how-zipcars-founders-built-and-lost-a-car-sharing-empire http://www.theverge.com/2014/4/1/5553910/driven-how-zipcars-... http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2013/01/02/aviss-smart-zipcar-buy/ http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2013/01/02/aviss-smart... > As with many high-flying IPOs, however, Zipcar never fulfilled its promise, and its stock never again saw those heady first-day levels. By the end of 2012, its market capitalization had fallen to $330 million, while Avis Budget’s market cap was $2.1 billion — making an acquisition both easy and obvious. In the past eight months alone, Zipcar stock fell by 40% while Avis stock rose by 60%

danso 11y ago

Maybe I missed this (it's hard to peruse the milestones/headlines from the timeline layout), but there's no mention on the timeline of Zipcar being bought out by Avis in 2013. While Zipcar is still alive in name today, I don't think everyone would call it an unmitigated success: http://www.theverge.com/2014/4/1/5553910/driven-how-zipcars-founders-built-and-lost-a-car-sharing-empire http://www.theverge.com/2014/4/1/5553910/driven-how-zipcars-... http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2013/01/02/aviss-smart-zipcar-buy/ http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2013/01/02/aviss-smart... > As with many high-flying IPOs, however, Zipcar never fulfilled its promise, and its stock never again saw those heady first-day levels. By the end of 2012, its market capitalization had fallen to $330 million, while Avis Budget’s market cap was $2.1 billion — making an acquisition both easy and obvious. In the past eight months alone, Zipcar stock fell by 40% while Avis stock rose by 60%