Juno hopes to kill Uber with kindness
New ride-hailing start-up, Juno, hopes to go to battle with Uber, firstly in New York, and then branching out across America by “doing the right thing” by its drivers. The plan is to offer Juno drivers the chance to become full employees as long as they sign a contract waiving their right to drive for other platforms (if they want to retain this right they will sign up to Juno as independent contractors) and to offer all drivers who remain on the platform for at least two years equity in the firm. According to CEO, Talmon Marco, “We do this because it’s the right thing to do. You get better people when you do this. There’s no reason not to treat them right…I think what Uber is doing is wrong from a business standpoint and wrong from a moral standpoint, and not necessarily in that order.” While Juno has yet to complete a single paid ride, it has been recruiting drivers for months, and boasts that it is already the second-largest ride-hailing firm in New York based on driver numbers.

A new ride-hailing app that is positioning itself as the anti-Uber is expected to soft launch in New York City this month. Juno, the brainchild of Israeli-American businessman Talmon Marco, has spent the last few months recruiting highly rated Uber drivers to its platform in anticipating of going live this spring. Now it appears that the launch may come sooner than expected.

"We have sufficient liquidity to launch tomorrow."

Marco told The Verge that Juno would be available in a private beta mode to "family and friends" later this month, and expects to launch officially in late spring or early summer. In an interview with The Washington Post today, Marco claimed that Juno is already the second largest ride-hail company in New York City based on the number of drivers it has signed up. "We have sufficient liquidity to launch tomorrow," he told The Post.

How does Juno plan on out-Ubering Uber? The company's strategy is twofold: sign up the cream of the crop, Uber drivers with ratings of 4.75 and above; and promise those drivers to pay them more money, as well as shares in the company. If drivers are happier, the rides they provide will be higher quality, the theory goes — and customers will be convinced to use Juno over Uber.