Marti Technologies, Inc. (AMEX:MRT), which is the top urban mobility app in Türkiye as per data cited in its most recent investor presentation, has begun monetizing its ride-hailing service, selling drivers subscription packages to access ride requests from Marti's growing rider base, which is now around 1.3 million. By the end of the year, the company is targeting 1.6 million users. 

Marti, which bills itself as the only ride-hailing company in Türkiye that can handle large volumes of rides, does face competition from offline ride-hailing services in the country. Still, the company says that none of the smaller services have a mobile app that streamlines the process of hailing a ride. Instead, they rely on voice calls and text messages to connect drivers and riders. Such inefficiency results in a lower volume of ride requests from those service providers, reports Marti. Nonetheless, the company says drivers are willing to pay upwards of $300 per month for that type of offline access to riders, which means Marti can also charge that much. 

"The first half of 2024 was a period in which we significantly exceeded our ride-hailing targets, demonstrating that demand for ride-hailing in Türkiye is even higher than we anticipated," Oguz Alper Oktem, founder and CEO, said when reporting earnings at the end of September. "In the first half of 2024, in addition to achieving our new rider and driver acquisition targets, we also increased our efforts to retain existing riders and drivers in a capital-efficient manner." 

Another differentiator is its concentration throughout Türkiye, particularly in Istanbul. With an unofficial population of over 20 million people, Istanbul is the largest city in Europe; bigger than cities like London, Paris and Berlin. Of the company's 225,000 registered drivers, more than 167,000 are in Istanbul. The company says that compares to some 21,000 taxis operating in the city.