Snapp!

Snapp!

Company type	Private company
Industry	Technology, Transportation
Founded	February 28, 2014 (2014-02-28)
Founder	Iyad Elkaser Mahmud Fauz
Headquarters	Tehran , Iran
Services	SnappEco SnappBike SnappBox SnappFood SnappRoom SnappTrip SnappMarket
Number of employees	3,500
Parent	Snapp Group
Website	snapp.ir

Snapp! (Persian: اسنپ!) is an Iranian vehicle for hire company, headquartered in Tehran that launched in February 2014. Users can request a ride via the iOS, Android, or web application, by indicating their location and destination. The price of the trip is set beforehand, to eliminate bargaining. Snapp! commissions drivers upon completing a background check, and showing a valid driver's license and insurance before hiring them.

Funding and operations

The company launched in 2014 as Taxi Yaab and experienced rapid growth in the first three years.

In October 2016, the company received a $20 million investment in a Series A round led by MTN Group, a South African multinational corporation. According to a 2017 interview with Shahram Shahkar, the former CEO of the company, Snapp! employs more than 300,000 active drivers and more than 500 other personnel at that time. Snapp rebranded itself and changed its logo in 2019.

As of 2019, Snapp! in Tehran was larger than Uber in any city. As of December 2020, Snapp! had 85% of Iran's market share with operations in 34 cities. Via its 3 million drivers, it provided 2.5 million rides per day and is credited with a major shift in how Iranians use taxis.

Products

In order to evade sanctions and appear on the app store, Snapp! had to disguise itself as a music app. Similar to other companies such as Uber, Lyft, Snapp! features other options including: Snapp Taxi, Snapp Bike (for motorcycles), Snapp Box (for parcels) and Snapp Club (a loyalty program).

Subsidiaries

Initially, Iran Internet Group was supposedly the holding company behind Snapp!. IIG also held other companies such as Bamilo and ZoodFood. Later on, it renamed or shut down some of these services in favor of expanding Snapp! from a transportation-focused company to a more general tech company. Because of this, the ZoodFood service was renamed to Snapp! Food and the online retail store known as Bamilo was shut down and redirected to the Snapp! Market website.

Controversies

• Passenger dress code

On June 6, 2019, a woman named Pouyeh Noriyan ordered a car through Snap (an Iranian ride-hailing app), and the driver, named Saeed Abed, asked her to observe the dress code. This led to a dispute between her and the driver. The woman recorded the incident, sharing an image of the driver’s profile on her personal Twitter account, alleging that the driver left her on the highway over the issue.

• Snap boycott

The passenger’s sharing of the driver’s personal information, along with Snap’s initial statement expressing “sympathy” for the passenger, sparked outrage on social media and in the media. Numerous users supported a boycott of Snap. Many online users organized a campaign to boycott the Snap app, deleting it from their phones and pledging to stop using the service. In response, Snap released a statement apologizing to both the passenger for not reaching her destination and the driver for the exposure of his personal information. The statement faced criticism from various media outlets.

Later, a photo surfaced showing the driver meeting the passenger and her mother at the headquarters of the Morality Court, where the driver gifted her books, including the Quran, “Salam Bar Ebrahim,” “Memoirs of an Ambassador,” Mafatih al-Jinan, Nahj al-Balagha, Sahifa Sajjadiya, and Hafez's Divan. Media outlets reported that the passenger apologized to the driver during this meeting. According to Euronews, the driver's smiling face contrasted with the distressed expressions of the woman and her mother, stirring strong reactions on social media. Political figures, primarily from the Principlist wing, demanded action against the woman and an apology to the driver.

Shortly afterward, a report quoting the passenger was published by Fars News Agency, in which she stated:

“Many on social media created such a tense atmosphere that people thought I was pressured to tweet. But there was no pressure or coercion; I posted that tweet willingly.”

She then deleted all her previous tweets related to this incident from her Twitter account. This action reignited speculation and debate among social media users. A further point raised by some media outlets was a photograph of the Snap driver standing directly behind Qassem Soleimani during a lineup at the Eid al-Fitr prayer on June 5, a day before the incident. The official lineup procedures of the Islamic Republic raised questions about how an ordinary Snap driver could be positioned directly behind a senior military official, adding to suspicions surrounding the incident.

According to Twitter data, 5,808 tweets were posted by 2,390 users during this boycott wave, with 17% of the content being retweets. The tweets generally criticized Snap for failing to support its customer, backing down from its initial stance, and calling on users to boycott Snap. During a second wave of anti-Snap tweets, 2,584 tweets were posted by 950 users. Some critics compared the backlash against Snap to the Leica camera boycott led by the Chinese government after the brand claimed to have captured the Tank Man incident. These critics argued that, similar to Leica, Snap had to retract its position and comply with central government demands to preserve its brand.

• Tapsi’s complaint against Snap at the Competition Council

The Competition Council announced a case between two ride-hailing companies, ruling in favor of Tapsi and penalizing Snap.

In an interview with ISNA, Sepehr Dadjoui-Tavakoli, the Council's public relations manager, referenced the 555th session of the Competition Council, stating that Snap had been penalized for anti-competitive behavior following a complaint from Tapsi. According to Tapsi's complaint, Snap had purchased 1,000 SIM cards to create accounts as passengers on Tapsi's platform, gaining access to contact information for about 14,000 Tapsi drivers. Under Article 61 of the General Policies of Principle 44, this action was deemed anti-competitive, and Snap was fined.

He further explained that Snap allegedly purchased these SIM cards, accessed Tapsi’s platform as passengers, obtained driver contact information, and subsequently offered higher wages to persuade Tapsi drivers to switch platforms. Since many drivers accepted Snap’s offer, Tapsi incurred financial losses, and Snap was fined for engaging in anti-competitive practices.

In response, Snap denied the allegations regarding the recruitment of rival company drivers, issuing a statement contesting the Competition Council’s ruling.

Ridehailing

In May 2024 carpooling was added to the app.

Snapfood hack and user data breach

In January 2024, a hacker group announced that it had accessed the personal information of over twenty million users of Snapfood, an online food ordering platform. This data included usernames, passwords, email addresses, full names, mobile numbers, and birth dates. Additionally, over 51 million user location details, including coordinates, addresses, and landline numbers, were also part of the breached database. Other compromised data included details of 360 million orders and information on 35,000 couriers. The hacker group listed this stolen data for sale at a price of $30,000.

On January 1, 2024, Snapfood confirmed the breach in a public statement and acknowledged responsibility. The company also announced that it would enter negotiations with the hackers to prevent the release of user data.

See also

• Technology start-ups in Iran
• Transport in Iran
• AloPeyk

External links

• Official website