Fasten, the Boston-based ride-hailing company that started serving Austin in 2016, will stop providing services in the United States following its planned acquisition by Vezet Group, a ride-hailing company in Russia.
Terms of the deal weren't provided. Fasten will halt services in all U.S. markets, which include Boston and Austin, on Monday, March 5. The move comes just four days before the kickoff of South By Southwest, which is one of biggest events for ride-hailing and other services.
"Fasten has approximately 35 employees here in the U.S. and 110 in Russia. Both Boston and Austin-based employees will be laid off," a company spokesperson told Austin Inno in an email. "One of the key reasons for Vezet's acquisition of Fasten was its talented tech team, so key team members in Russia (largely developers) will be staying on."
Vezet Group says it will uses Fasten's technology to grow in Russia. The Fasten app is already available in Krasnodar, Russia.
“Fasten was able to create one of the top technologies in the world with very limited resources," Vezet Group spokesperson Alexander Kostikov said in a news release. "We are happy that with this acquisition everything they've built will help us to strengthen a leadership position in Russia, our domestic market where we put our full focus.”
The move comes a little less than a year after Uber and Lyft resumed services in Austin after having exited the market in 2016 after Austin City Council members enacted stricter laws on driver background checks. Texas lawmakers later overruled that with a statewide law.
Fasten, which is led by Russian native CEO Kirill Evdakov, was among several ride-hailing startups to launch in the Austin market to fill the void left by Uber and Lyft. Ride Fare, InstaRyde and ScoopMe all shut down or left the Austin market within months of Uber and Lyft resuming services here.
Fasten has raised $19.2 million in total, according to Crunchbase.
