News

Startup Helps Visitors Explore Dubai Baggage-Free

The “Uber for luggage” service starts at Dh99 and offers collection, storage, and delivery.

Published

1 year ago

November 19, 2023

baggage taxi helps visitors explore dubai baggage-free

Dubai is a premiere location for millions of leisure and business visitors each year. Many travelers land during the early hours of the morning and have plenty of time to kill before they can check into their hotels.

Unfortunately, exploiting a city without accommodation means lugging bags between restaurants, tourist hotspots, and onto public transport. Luckily, Dubai resident Tristan Sommer-Enriquez has developed a solution — an on-demand, AI-powered baggage-hailing platform that is essentially the “Uber for luggage”.

Talking about his startup Baggage Taxi, Sommer-Enriquez explained: “As a business traveler, whenever I was in big metropolitan cities, I was stuck with my luggage everywhere I went. If I had meetings and left the hotel early, while my flight was in the evening, I had to return to the hotel or lug my baggage around. That was my life as a frequent traveler for the last 15-20 years”.

Baggage Taxi is a simple yet clever concept: Imagine a vacationing family plans to visit a mall before heading to the airport for their evening outbound flight. Baggage Taxi will whisk away their luggage from a convenient pickup point — such as their hotel — store and deliver it to the airport ready for check-in.

Also Read: How (And Why) To Start A Tech Business In Dubai

Although many tourists use locker services to solve this type of problem, Baggage Taxi is far more convenient, as travelers don’t need to catch a taxi back and forth into the city to collect their bags.

“Our customers typically arrive in the morning and check in at (hotels) at 3pm. So, we pick up their bags at the airport while they head to their meetings. The service is often chosen by departing customers with evening flights and no business meetings, so they don’t want to carry their luggage around while exploring or shopping. We pick up their baggage in the morning and deliver it to any airport or hotel in the UAE,” Sommer-Enriquez said.

Baggage Taxi costs Dh99 for the first piece of luggage and an additional Dh35 for each extra item. The company currently offers its service through its website and will release an app in early December 2023.

News

Rabbit Expands Hyperlocal Delivery Service In Saudi Arabia

The e-commerce startup is aiming to tap into the Kingdom’s underdeveloped e-grocery sector with a tech-first, locally rooted strategy.

Published

4 days ago

April 7, 2025

Nour Nasir

Rabbit

Rabbit, an Egyptian-born hyperlocal e-commerce startup, is expanding into the Saudi Arabian market, setting its sights on delivering 20 million items across major cities by 2026.

The company, founded in 2021, is already operational in the Kingdom, with its regional headquarters now open in Riyadh and an established network of strategically located fulfillment centers — commonly known as “dark stores” — across the capital.

The timing is strategic: Saudi Arabia’s online grocery transactions currently sit at 1.3%, notably behind the UAE (5.3%) and the United States (4.8%). With the Kingdom’s food and grocery market estimated at $60 billion, even a modest increase in online adoption could create a multi-billion-dollar opportunity.

Rabbit also sees a clear alignment between its business goals and Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, which aims to boost retail sector innovation, support small and medium-sized enterprises, attract foreign investment, and develop a robust digital economy.

The company’s e-commerce model is based on speed and efficiency. Delivery of anything from groceries and snacks to cosmetics and household staples is promised in 20 minutes or less, facilitated by a tightly optimized logistics system — a crucial component in a sector where profit margins and delivery expectations are razor-thin.

Despite the challenges, Rabbit has already found its stride in Egypt. In just over three years, the app has been used by 1.4 million customers to deliver more than 40 million items. Revenue has surged, growing more than eightfold in the past two years alone.

Also Read: Top E-Commerce Websites In The Middle East In 2025

CEO and Co-Founder Ahmad Yousry commented: “We are delighted to announce Rabbit’s expansion into the Kingdom. We pride ourselves on being a hyperlocal company, bringing our bleeding-edge tech and experience to transform the grocery shopping experience for Saudi households, and delivering the best products – especially local favorites, in just 20 minutes”.

The company’s growth strategy avoids the pitfalls of over-reliance on aggressive discounting. Instead, Rabbit leans on operational efficiency, customer retention, and smart scaling. The approach is paying off, having already attracted major investment from the likes of Lorax Capital Partners, Global Ventures, Raed Ventures, and Beltone Venture Capital, alongside earlier investors such as Global Founders Capital, Goodwater Capital, and Hub71.