Thailand’s ride-hailing market is expected to intensify with the debut of Singapore-based ride-hailing firm Tada on Wednesday.

The service covers Bangkok now and is will expand to Nonthaburi, Pathum Thani and Samut Prakan in the near future, local media Bangkok Post reported on Thursday.

According to the report, Thailand is the company’s fourth market. Tada also plans to set up an e-bike production facility in Thailand by year-end.

Meanwhile, Singapore-headquartered Grab is the dominant player in Thailand’s ride-hailing market. The other players are Lineman, Robinhood and Estonia-based Bolt, the report added.

After becoming the second-largest ride-hailing platform in terms of trips in Singapore, Tada expanded to Cambodia and Vietnam.

The company aims to transform the industry from being based on commission fees to a more sustainable model for drivers and passengers, ensuring the platform is cash-positive, Tada reportedly said.

In Singapore, ride-hailing service has penetrated 70 percent of the population. As comparison, in Bangkok, the penetration rate slightly exceeds one-third of the population.

Tada is one of five ride-hailing platforms licensed by the Singapore Land Transport Authority over the past five years. It secured a ride-hailing licence from Thailand’s Department of Land Transportation earlier this year.

Since its beta service launch in December 2023 in Thailand, the company has had 15,000 riders, both in taxis and private cars, the report added.

According to data platform Tracxn, TADA has raised a total funding of $15 million over three rounds. It’s first funding round was on Dec 03, 2019. Its latest funding round was a Series A round on Aug 06, 2020 for $5 million, lead by Central.

Tada has eight institutional investors including Shinhan Bank, SV Investment and Central. Park Myeon Gyu and 2 others are Angel Investors in TADA, data from the platform showed.

Tada said it has remained a commission-free service for driver-partners since its inception in 2018 and is the first and only zero-commission ride-hailing platform in Singapore, information from its Linkedin Page showed.

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