Opteum:Taxi

In 2012, in the Russian city of Naberezhnye Chelny, Alexandr Pianov and Bulat Fazleev saw a gap in the evolving taxi industry. While ride-hailing apps were beginning to emerge, traditional taxi companies and fleet operators were being left behind, struggling with inefficient, old-school dispatch and accounting methods. Pianov and Fazleev's solution was Opteum, a software-as-a-service platform designed specifically for these businesses. Opteum provided a suite of tools to bring taxi operators into the digital age. Its software handled critical functions like dispatch management, fleet tracking, and financial accounting. This allowed smaller, traditional taxi companies to manage their drivers, schedule rides, and handle payments more efficiently, helping them compete in a rapidly changing market. One of its key products, Taxigrats, even integrated with larger aggregators like Uber and Gett, automating driver payments and accounting for expenses like fuel and car rentals. The company secured an investment from the institutional investor RVM Capital, which fueled its development and market outreach. However, despite providing a crucial service to a niche market, the competitive landscape for taxi software was intense. Ultimately, the venture did not achieve a major exit or IPO, and the company was later recorded as deadpooled.