Summon | |
Industry: | Transportation |
Location: | San Francisco, California, United States |
Area Served: | San Francisco, California, United States |
Founder: | Aarjav Trivedi |
Services: | Vehicle for hire |
Summon (originally InstantCab) was a vehicle for hire company operating in portions of Silicon Valley. The company was shut down in November 2014.
Customers were able to pay with Google Wallet.[1]
The idea for Summon came after Aarjav Trivedi, its CEO and Founder, waited for over an hour for a bus and then a cab to take him to the airport. He missed an international flight because both were late. Trivedi created InstantCab (later rebranded as Summon) to give people a simple, fast, reliable, and inexpensive form of transportation. Previously, Trivedi founded RideCell which focused on fleet automation to making on-demand transportation fleets easier to manage and access.
Summon was selected to participate in the Winter 2012 Y Combinator meet.[2] Summon received funding in 2012 from venture capital and angel investors in Silicon Valley including Khosla Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, General Catalyst, Andreessen Horowitz, Facebook Ex-COO Owen Van Natta and Delicious founder Joshua Schachter.[2]
In February 2014, after rebranding from InstantCab to Summon, the company raised another round of funding from existing investors and new investors such as BMW Ventures.[3] [4]
The company also offered drivers extra pay to transport disabled passengers.[5]
Taxi drivers were able to sign up to drive for Summon. Taxi drivers were able to get a credit card swiper from Summon for use with street hails or non-Summon customers.[6]
Summon opposed a dynamic pricing model.[7] Instead of surge pricing, Summon used flat fares on busy times and event days.[8] In addition, it offers a FareBack program, which gives customers a portion of their ride cost back as credits to use on future Summon rides.[9]
On March 8, 2013, Summon received a cease and desist letter from San Francisco International Airport, claiming that its community drivers were trespassing by unlawfully conducting business operations on airport property without a permit. Summon responded that its personal drivers were complying with the law because they were not picking up customers at the airport or engaging in commercial activities on airport property.[10] [11] Other vehicle for hire companies operating in San Francisco also received similar cease and desist letters from San Francisco International Airport.[12]
In September 2013, the California Public Utilities Commission legalized vehicle for hire companies.[13] [14] Summon was the first ridesharing company to receive its operating permit from the California Public Utilities Commission, which it received on February 24, 2014.[15]