Costa Rica’s Fintech Omni Launches Ride-Sharing Service

Fintech startup Omni has branched out into the ride-sharing business in Costa Rica, vowing to make large inroads into the market dominated by Uber and China’s Didi.

As of Monday this week, Omni had enrolled 6,000 taxi drivers, with the number of people downloading its app exceeding 500,000. Customers using the service can pay in cash, card, or through Moni, the fintech’s own digital payment app.

Omni is in fact a Costa Rican fintech startup, with Brazil’s unicorn Nubank being its role model. Analysts say Omni may give Uber a run for its money, saying the local ride-hailing app is both ambitious and aggressive.

Omni may look like a stranger in the brutally-competitive ride-hailing market. But the Costa Rican company is not at all new to the mobility sector, as it has long been renting out bicycles in the capital San Jose.

Backed by a Singapore-based ride-sharing service called Grab, Omni has reportedly set aside US$200 million to expand in Central America and the Caribbean. Of that total sum for the region, US$35 million will be invested in Costa Rica alone.

It seems Omni began preparing for the launch well over a year ago. Earlier in April this year, it unveiled plans to hire more than 2,000 people in Costa Rica, including software engineers, data analysts, and call center agents.