A new Canadian rideshare service called HOVR has launched with the goal of keeping passengers' money in the country and supporting local economies.The move comes as American giants Uber and Lyft continue to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars into the United States from fares collected in Canada.HOVR founder and CEO Harrison Amit and CMO Christian Alicpala recently embarked on a cross-country tour, driving from coast to coast to engage with Canadians and warn them that more of their money than they think is flowing south of the border."It's $1 billion problem," Amit told the Western Standard via telephone as he and Alicpala made their way from Vancouver to Victoria on Sunday. "At the end of the day I think Canadians should be making the choice that's best for them, but also best for the country."He pointed out that with everything getting more expensive, "the more money we can keep on our country, the easier things will be in the long run.""Other rideshare platforms use a cookie cutter kind of commission-based business model where drivers work 10 to 12 hours a day and end up losing around 30 to 50% of their earnings to the platform," Amit explained. "The way that we differentiate ourselves is with a membership-based model. Drivers pay us a flat monthly membership and then they keep 100% of the fares, and since they earned 100% of the fares, we're able to cut the cost for riders."Subscription rates range from $20 to $50 per month..When asked how the service has been received by Canadians on their tour, Amit said its been overwhelmingly positive."Everybody is a HOVR lover," he declared. "Every time we explain what HOVR's about, the majority response is, 'I love that'."Amit first came up with the idea for HOVR after moving to Toronto in 2018, and six years later, the service officially launched. He told the Western Standard that the company has attracted a sizeable amount of investment."We have some fantastic investors," he said, shoouting out Rick Chad of Chad Management. "We also had a successful crowd-fund where we raised about $975,000. Our target was $800,000, so we are really excited about that. We've raised a couple of other private cheques from then 'til now, and now we're on track with our latest crowd-fund so that all Canadians while we travel across the country can own a part of the mission."Amit stressed the importance of ensuring drivers are stakeholders in the company, noting that over one in ten drivers were actually able to invest."We wanna make it available for every Canadian that believes in what we're doing to own a piece of the dream," he added. "Own a piece of the mission and win with us all the way up."
