Citymobil

Citymobil (City-Mobile LLC) is a taxi ordering service founded in 2007 and stopped working in April 2022 after the start of Russia's military special operation in Ukraine. It was available in mobile applications to iOS and Android users or by calling the operator.

History

2022

Customer passport scans leak

On December 23, 2022, it became known about a major leak of data from users of the Citymobil taxi ordering service. The company confirmed her and launched an investigation.

According to the founder of the service for intelligence of data leaks and monitoring Darknet DLBI Ashot Hovhannisyan in his channel "Information Leaks," 4149 photographs of passports of drivers working with the service "Citymobil" were publicly available. He added that the files were freely available on the company's website.

Hackers posted scans of passports of thousands of Citymobil users in the public domain

About the leak also wrote Telegram-channel Data1eaks. According to him, photos or scans of the first pages of drivers' passports were posted by "pro-Ukrainian hackers" from the NLB group. The channel notes that many leaked photos were taken in the car, next to the driver's license.

NLB is "a fairly serious group and is assembled from highly qualified cybercriminals," says Luka Safonov, technical director of Sinclit JSC. According to him, one of the leaders is the Russian-Ukrainian hacker Vladislav Khorokhorin, who was convicted of fraud using electronic means of payment and served a seven-year prison sentence.

The press service of Citymobil reported that they accept responsibility for what is happening and are conducting their own investigation.

At the moment, we are conducting an internal investigation into whether the stolen data was stored on our system and how the data could have been leaked. Based on the results of the investigation, disciplinary action will be applied to those responsible. In any case, we take responsibility for what is happening, since we are responsible for the security of data on our resources, the company said on December 23, 2022.

They added that they are preparing to notify Roskomnadzor of the leak, as required by law, and "the company's management has created a headquarters for a detailed analysis of this situation."^[1]

Sber and VK JV sells Citymobil assets to TaksovichkoF owner

In mid-April 2022, it was announced the sale of Citymobil assets to the management company People&People (it owns Taxovichkof"," "" and Gruzovichkof others). The seller is O2O-holding - a joint venture "" and Sberbank(VK former). Mail.ru Group

According to the press service of Sberbank, as part of the deal, People & People will acquire part of the assets of the Citymobil service. The financial component of the transaction was not disclosed, its perimeter will include a service technology platform, a brand and channels for attracting customers.

In mid-April 2022, the sale of Citymobil assets of the management company People & People was announced

It is assumed that the deal will allow the TaxovichkoF service to increase its share in the taxi aggregator market and expand its geography of presence, including all million-plus cities in Russia, which will make taxis more accessible to city residents.

After April 15, 2022, the Citymobil service application and the Citystart driver application will continue their work. Part of the Citymobil employees may go to the buyer company, they will be offered new positions in People & People.

The legal entity of City-Mobile LLC will be closed, as previously announced. The Citidrive car sharing service and the fuel platform will continue their work as part of the O2O holding.

According to a Forbes source, at the end of March 2022, Citymobil employees began to be fired by agreement of the parties with the payment of three salaries and bonuses, and a small number of employees received job offers in the VK and Sberbank ecosystems with irrelevant positions, duties and salaries. The transition of the teams was also in question, there were no such proposals, the source said then.

By mid-April 2022, Citymobil provides services in more than 80 cities of Russia. The service provides taxi aggregator, car sharing, electric scooter rental and courier delivery services.^[2]

"Citymobil" called the day of termination of work - April 15

Our service has been on the market for almost 15 years, for which we managed to do a lot. We have become part of the lives of many partner users and drivers. We helped users get to their destination in more than 80 cities of the country, and partner drivers were given the opportunity to have a stable income, said Vitaly Bedarev, CEO of Citymobil.

RBC sources who were present at Bedarev's meeting with the company's team said that the closure was due to the unwillingness of shareholders to continue investments. As the general director explained, a lot of money was invested in the development of the company, but this was not enough for it to become profitable. The press service of the company noted that all obligations to employees and partners will be fulfilled in full within the framework of the current legislation.

On April 15, Citymobil stops working.

For 15 years of work by March 2022, Citymobil users ordered a taxi more than 740 million times. Since the launch of delivery (April 1, 2020), partner couriers have completed more than 8.2 million orders.^[3]

Citymobil ceases operations. Car sharing "Citidrive" will continue to work

"Shareholders of the city mobility service" Citymobil "decided to terminate the company. All obligations to employees and partners will be fulfilled in full within the framework of the current legislation. "

This will not affect the work of the Citidrive car sharing - it will continue to work.

2021

Revenue - 3 billion rubles; net losses - 10.1 billion rubles

At the end of 2021, the taxi aggregator Citymobil earned 3 billion rubles in revenue, which is 3.7 times more than a year earlier. The company's net loss during this time decreased from 11.8 billion to 10.1 billion rubles. Such financial indicators were released in April 2022.

According to the financial statements referred to by Interfax, Citymobil's loss from sales in 2021 amounted to 11.8 billion rubles against a loss from sales of 14.6 billion rubles in 2020.

By the end of 2021, the Citymobil aggregator is present in more than 80 cities of Russia. He ranked second in the number of online travel orders in Moscow, as well as in most cities of his presence.

Turnover exceeded 54 billion rubles

Citymobil and, Sitidrive which are part of the Holding's O2O VK and, Sberbank on March 3, 2022, announced the results of work for 2021. Citidrive became one of the largest short-term rental companies: by the cars end of the IV quarter, the service entered the top 3 in terms of car sharing fleet size. The number of cars increased to 7,000, and the number of trips rose to almost 8 million (an increase of 80% compared to 2020). In the IV quarter, the platform's turnover exceeded 1 billion, rubles reaching almost 3.5 billion rubles over the year.

In 2021, almost 200 million taxi trips were made through the Citymobil service in more than 80 cities of presence. The company's turnover exceeded 54 billion rubles.

In April 2021, Citymobil presented a single urban mobility platform, which included a taxi, Citidriv car sharing (formerly YouDrive) and electric scooters, and also changed the visual style of brands. Citymobil expanded the user scenario by fully integrating e-scooter rentals into the application. Thanks to cooperation with Jurent, more than 35 thousand scooters were available to users throughout the country: in 2021, users made more than 2 million trips.

In the IV quarter, Citymobil continued to develop the B2B segment, increasing the number of trips by 2 times compared to 2020. The direction of the company's C2C and B2C delivery business showed rapid growth, and the list of partners increased regularly. On peak days, the number of deliveries exceeds 24 thousand.

In August, Citymobil restarted the application for drivers and couriers of partners, completely changing the interface. At the same time, a refueling service in the application became available to all drivers of Citymobil partners, and the Citidriv fleet is also supplied with fuel, which led to a 2-fold increase in the turnover of the fuel platform. Significant progress was made in cooperation with the 2GIS geoservice, which made it possible to improve the navigation systems in Citymobil, as well as the integration of the 2GIS with the Citidrive car-sharing service began.

Launch delivery using cycle couriers

City mobility service Citymobil on November 2, 2021 announced the launch of delivery using cycle couriers. Now delivery orders that come to Citymobil from partners connected to the service will be carried out by both car couriers and couriers on bicycles. At the start of the project, Citymobil will transfer part of the orders to cycling couriers in the central regions of Moscow, with a delivery radius of up to 4 km and a weight limit of the parcel of up to 10 kg. Such orders can come, for example, from a cafe, restaurant or grocery store - a bicycle courier will deliver the order to the client's door.

This area will expand the service's capabilities during the restrictions imposed in Moscow, when many small and medium-sized businesses are completely switching to delivery, and a high demand for this service is expected.

In addition, connecting to the platform of couriers on bicycles will help make delivery more convenient and faster - mainly for orders around the city center at short distances with a radius of up to several kilometers. This is due to the fact that it is often more difficult for a car courier to carry out such deliveries in the central areas of the city due to difficulties with parking, dense traffic and the presence of barriers for entering the destination.

At the first stage of the launch, several hundred couriers were connected to the delivery of Citymobil. In the future, the service plans to scale the direction, as well as expand its business in the regions - the next after Moscow is planned to be launched in cities in southern Russia: for example, in Krasnodar, Rostov-on-Don.

We see demand for delivery, which continues to grow continuously. Especially during the period of new antiquated restrictions, when businesses and enterprises from different industries actually switch to online everywhere. Citymobil strives to make delivery more convenient for both our partners and the end user. The unification of auto and bicycle couriers within the framework of one service is an important step towards the development of the urban mobility platform, and already according to the results of the first tests, we see positive results. We will continue to develop the delivery direction and are preparing new solutions for partners and users, "said Lev Parkhomenko, Head of Delivery Development at Citymobil.

Penalty for cheating passengers

On July 22, 2021, it became known about a fine of 100 thousand rubles imposed on Citymobil for several violations committed by the taxi aggregator.

During the raids, we identified taxi cars connected to the aggregator, working without permits and with violations of pre-trip medical examinations. Drivers violated the requirements of quality, safety and warranty of passenger transportation services in accordance with the law of the Russian Federation "On the Protection of Consumer Rights," the press service of the Ministry of Transport and Road Infrastructure of the Moscow Region reports, adding that we are talking about consumer deception.

"Citymobil" will pay a fine for deceiving passengers

There were violations in the conduct of pre-trip medical examinations, the requirements of quality, safety and guarantees of passenger transportation services were not met, the ministry explained. Also, each driver was fined 6 thousand rubles, and the cars were evacuated to the parking lot. The use of illegal taxi services is unsafe: drivers do not have the necessary experience, and passengers are not insured in case of an accident, the Ministry of Transport added.

Citymobil promised to additionally check drivers whose cars were without valid permits. In the press service of the company, in some regions, the aggregator will control the availability of the necessary documents in automatic mode and, if necessary, remove carriers from fulfilling orders.

In July 2021, the Taxi Driver trade union appealed to the head of the Government of RFMikhail Mishustin with a warning about the upcoming collapse in the taxi market. The organization claims that the crisis will provoke a new information system for taxi drivers, which will be launched in Moscow and the Moscow region from August 1, 2021. The service will control market participants and refuse to issue work permits to users who are not registered in it. According to drivers and taxi companies, this will lead to a decrease in taxi driver earnings and cause mass unemployment.^[4]

As of March 2021, the service operates in more than 70 cities of the Russian Federation.

Investing in URent scooter rental service

On April 7, 2021, AFK Sistema announced the investment of 200 million rubles in the URent scooter rental service. The deal was concluded through the Sistema SmartTech fund, which is part of the state corporation. Citymobil also invested in the service. Read more here.

Appointment of Vitaly Bedarev as CEO of Citymobil

Taxi ordering service "Citymobil" on March 30, 2021 announced the appointment of Vitaly Bedarev to the post of general director. Over the past year, Vitaly has been appointed Acting General Director of the company. Read more here.

Aram Arakelyan's exit from the company's capital

In early March 2021, it became known about the withdrawal of Aram Arakelyan from the capital of the Citymobil company, which he founded. Its share of 1.96% on February 26 passed to the joint venture of Mail.ru Group and Sberbank - O2O Holding.

On March 5, 2021, he wrote about this transaction Kommersant"" with reference to the data of the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (Unified State Register of Legal Entities). The press service of Citymobil confirmed this information to the publication. They also reported that Aram Arakelyan is resigning as CEO of the company, and will take his place. Vitaly Bedarev

Founder of "Citymobil" Aram Arakelyan

It is noted that Arakelyan leaves Citymobil to engage in the development of his own projects together with partners - Ohanes Arakelyan and Vladislav Abrahamyan.

According to Contour Focus the database "," by March 2021, 97.4% of City-Mobile LLC belongs to O2O Holding (45% from Mail.ru Group and 45% from Sberbank structures). Another 2.6% is owned by the controlled "To the megaphone AO Megalabs."

Citymobil has been part of a joint venture between Mail.ru Group and Sberbank in the field of food and transport since the end of 2019.^[5]

2020

Turnover growth by 2.2 times, up to 46 billion rubles

The turnover of Citymobil in 2020, as follows from the reporting of the Mail.ru Group, amounted to 46 billion rubles, an increase of 2.2 times. In 2020, Citymobil made 185 million trips, exceeding three times the 2019 figure.

WSFIS Global Opportunities Fund Ltd and Vladislav Abrahamyan withdraw from the company's capital

In February 2020, Forbes magazine reported that financial investors sold shares in the Citymobil service - then the share of the joint venture between Sberbank and Mail.ru Group in the company exceeded 95%. According to the publication, the Cyprus WSFIS Global Opportunities Fund Ltd and entrepreneur Vladislav Abrahamyan left the capital of the Citymobil taxi service "at the junction of 2019 and 2020," the source said in the company. The amount of the transaction was not called then.

"Citymobil" launched in Tyumen

On June 3, 2020, it became known that Citymobil's taxi ordering service began working in Tyumen. This is the first city with a population of more than 500,000 people in which the aggregator has been launched since the introduction of a high alert regime and general self-isolation. At the start, more than 1,200 registered drivers have already been connected to Citymobil in Tyumen. There are plans to increase the number of partners in the near future.

Tyumen became the third city of the Ural Federal District, where Citymobil works, after Yekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk. In total, the service is already available in 59 cities of Russia.

Citymobil and the analytical agency ResearchMe found that more than a third of residents (37%) of the Ural Federal District, including Tyumen, use taxi services several times a month. At the same time, 17% of respondents take a taxi even several times a week. During the coronavirus pandemic, one in eight residents considers taxis the safest alternative to public transport.

Developing business in the regions and launching in new cities is one of Citymobil's priorities and an important part of our strategy. Over the past year, our service has appeared in all million-plus cities. The coronavirus has made its own adjustments to the plans for regional expansion, but even during this difficult period, we launched in 10 cities with a population of up to 200 thousand people. The pandemic made it clear that we provide citizens with the opportunity not only comfortable, but also safe movement around the city. We work closely with partners, teaching them basic measures to counter the spread of any infectious diseases. And we are glad that now we can offer one of the safest urban mobility services to residents of Tyumen, - says the executive director of Citymobil Vitaly Bedarev

The minimum cost of a trip with Citymobil in Tyumen will be 59 rubles at the Economy tariff and 79 rubles at the Comfort tariff. Residents of Tyumen will also have access to the "Delivery" tariff, with the help of which passengers will be able to transfer personal and valuable things with a taxi driver. Drivers will help users transfer a parcel weighing up to 20 kilograms, and the cost of such a service starts at 59 rubles.

Compensation for drivers' income for downtime

On March 26, 2020, Mail.ru Group announced the allocation of a billion rubles to support medium and small businesses. Citymobil compensates drivers for income lost during downtime. Read more here.

Citymobil rented 3200 m of ² from WeWork

In March 2020, Citymobil rented 3200 sq. m (about 630 jobs) from WeWork, thereby concluding the second largest coworking deal in the Russian Federation. The company leased office space in the Arcus III business center on Leningradsky Prospekt in Moscow.

As an informed source told Vedomosti, many Citymobil employees have already moved to a new office from the Skylight complex, where the headquarters of the Mail.ru Group, a shareholder of the service, is located. WeWork, Citymobila and JLL (the deal's consultant) confirmed the conclusion of the lease, but did not disclose its financial component.

Citymobil rented 3200 sq. m (about 630 jobs) from WeWork, thereby concluding the second largest co-working deal in the Russian Federation

One workplace in Arcus III can cost 40 thousand rubles a month excluding taxes, estimates ILM managing partner Andrei Lukashev. Director of the Office Real Estate Department Knight Frank Maria Zimina calls the amount of 40-43 thousand rubles. Based on their estimates, renting a coworking space for Citymobil can cost 300-325 million rubles a year, the newspaper writes.

The largest deal in the coworking market was previously concluded by the retailer X5 Retail Group, which rented an area of ​ ​ 4.3 thousand square meters from WeWork for 700 jobs in the Krasnaya Roza business center.

The move of the company developing the taxi service to the new office became known almost simultaneously with the fact that Citymobil allowed its employees to work remotely due to the spread of the coronavirus.

Starting from Monday, all Citymobil employees whose work allows this can, in agreement with the manager, work remotely... The measure is introduced temporarily until April 1. We will closely monitor the situation and, if necessary, the period can be extended or reduced, - wrote the executive director of the company Vitaly Bedarev on his Facebook page.

Earlier, Citymobil sent out recommendations for the prevention of coronavirus to partners.^[6]

2019

Share of 1% in the taxi services market in Russia

• Taxi Market Research (Analytical Center under the Government of the Russian Federation. October 8, 2019 Presentation in PDF)

Partner of the mobile application of the Mail.ru Post within the framework of the taxi call service

On September 10, 2019, the Mail.ru Group announced that Citymobil became the first partner of the Mail.ru Post mobile application as part of a taxi calling service. Read more here.

Sberbank and Mail.ru Group signed an agreement on the creation of a Russian O2O services platform

On July 25, 2019, Sberbank and Mail.ru Group announced plans to create a Russian platform for O2O services (online-to-offline) in the field of food and transport. The joint venture will operate in the two largest digital consumer markets in Russia, the total volume of which will exceed 1 trillion rubles on the horizon of 3 years, with an expected average annual growth of more than 30%. Participation in the company will be distributed among partners in a ratio of 50/50 percent.

The partnership will allow combining the financial and technological resources of Sberbank and Mail.ru Group, as well as provide optimal conditions for the development of consumer O2O services. The platform services will be integrated into the ecosystems of Sberbank and Mail.ru Group and will expand the range of high-quality services that cover the daily needs of customers.

The parties signed an agreement of intent to establish a joint venture. The binding agreement is planned to be concluded in the fall of 2019, after receiving all the necessary permits from corporate governance bodies, antimonopoly structures and other regulators.

The strategic partnership will allow:

• Create an O2O platform in the two largest digital consumer markets in Russia - food and transport, which account for more than half of household spending. These are fast-growing and regularly used segments by consumers with potentially high profitability;
• expand the geography of Delivery Club coverage;
• accelerate the regional expansion of Citymobil and strengthen its position in the Moscow market;
• increase the efficiency of work, the quality of customer service, increase the number and speed of order processing, strengthen the technological base, including the possibility of artificial intelligence used by services;
• create a quality business with the potential for the platform to launch an IPO in a few years.

Deal Structure:

• Sberbank and Mail.ru Group plan to invest up to 64 billion rubles. in a joint venture, subject to the achievement of targets on the horizon of 12 months after the conclusion of the transaction;
• Mail.ru Group will contribute its shares in Delivery Club (100%) and Citymobil (22.69%), related minority investments and options in other companies of these industries, as well as cash in the amount of 7.7 billion rubles to the company being created. Additional investments in the amount of up to RUB 5.1 billion may be added to the capital of the joint platform, depending on the fulfillment of a number of KPIs by the contributed assets within 12 months after the closing of the transaction;
• before closing the transaction, Mail.ru Group will ensure the consolidation of a stake in the joint venture in the amount of at least 75% of Citymobil shares;
• Sberbank will contribute to the joint company a share in Foodplex (35%) and cash in the amount of about 38 billion rubles. If Delivery Club and Citymobil perform a series of KPIs within the next 12 months, Sberbank's contribution may be increased by 13 billion rubles;
• thus, by the time the transaction closes, the joint company will receive cash in the amount of 45.5 billion rubles, as well as an additional - up to 18 billion rubles over the next 12 months after the transaction closes - if the KPI is fulfilled. The assessment of the value of the joint venture upon reaching the targets may exceed 100 billion rubles;
• All funds will be contributed to the company in cash-in format and will be aimed at organic development, consolidation of assets and potential transactions in the food tech and mobility segments that are complementary to existing O2O businesses;
• in the future, the parties will consider the possibility of attracting external investors for the further development of the platform's business.

"Investments in the O2O platform are an important step in building Sberbank's ecosystem. We are entering the largest and most dynamic markets in the country in order to offer our customers a qualitatively new model of service consumption and create a leading player in the delivery of the "last mile" in Russia. The assets of our future joint venture are fast-growing companies with high potential and strong management teams, as well as expertise of the country's two large ecosystems and wide customer coverage, " noted' Herman Gref, President, Chairman of the Management Board of Sberbank "

"Mail.ru Group will create additional opportunities for Russian users, partner restaurants, taxi companies and drivers, which will make it possible to quickly bring Delivery Club and Citymobil to a higher level. This is a key step in building a business that will have a significant impact on the Russian digital economy. Consumer habits are rapidly changing, and we, together with Sberbank, want to lead this transformation. The Russian market for online food and taxi delivery services has great growth potential. We are pleased to participate in the development of these markets and the use of their long-term potential together with our partner, " noted Boris Dobrodeev, CEO of Mail.ru Group

Testing a joint tracking system with Lucky and Yandex.Taxi

On April 5, 2019, it became known that Lucky, Citymobil and Yandex.Taxi are testing a joint system for end-to-end tracking of the driver's working time. If the driver accepts orders from different services, data exchange will help to establish how many hours in total he spent driving. Project participants invite other aggregators to join the system. Read more here.

The share of online taxi orders through a mobile application exceeds 95%

As of February 2019, the share of online taxi orders through the Citymobil mobile application exceeds 95%.

2018

Revenue - 3.63 billion rubles; net losses - 1.07 billion rubles

Citymobil's net losses increased more than 100 times and reached 3.63 billion rubles. The revenue of the service jumped 3.4 times - to 1.07 billion rubles.

MegaFon's purchase of a minority stake in City Mobile

On April 5, 2018, MegaFon announced that it would enter the Moscow market for online taxi ordering services. MegaLabs, a subsidiary of MegaFon that develops digital solutions and innovative products, will acquire a minority stake in City-Mobile LLC.

Reportedly, City-Mobile is closing a round of investments totaling $35 million. Along with other investors, including Mail.Ru Group, MegaFon will take part in this round by acquiring a stake from existing owners, and also plans to make additional contributions to the authorized capital of City-Mobile. MegaFon's total investment in City Mobile will amount to approximately $14 million, and the ownership share can reach 31%. The operator does not plan to consolidate this acquisition.

We see this investment as a promising opportunity both financially and strategically. The online taxi ordering services market is developing at an accelerated pace and is ready to make another breakthrough thanks to the actions of new players who offer breakthrough technological and marketing ideas. In line with MegaFon's digital strategy, we are committed to expanding the ecosystem of our digital services and solutions. We continue to improve the customer experience and provide access to the services of the popular service. I am confident that the launch of the project will allow MegaFon to increase the loyalty and LTV of our subscribers and, at the same time, will provide additional monetization of data transmission services, "commented Gevork Vermishyan, Executive Director of MegaFon.

We are glad that such investors are taking part in the round, and we are motivated by the trust shown. Vast experience in online marketing, customer service, operating activities and many other areas that our investors can share will seriously support us on the way to building a company that will become a national player, "said Aram Arakelyan, founder and CEO of City-Mobile.

According to the Kartoteka.ru, at the time of publication of this information, the owners of City-Mobile were Aram Arakelyan (47.5%), A.V.A. Vladislav Abrahamyan (35.84%) and Felix Vartanyan (16.66%).^[7]

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In April 2018, Mail.Ru Group and MegaFon.- > By October 2018, after a round of investments, Citymobil showed a 10-fold increase: 2,400,000 trips in Moscow per month. In December 2018, this figure approached the mark of 4 million trips per month.

Notes