A ride-hailing company in the Philippines is looking at expanding its services to the Qatari market.
Dave M Almarinez, the founder and CEO of PeekUp, lauded Qatar for its “very stable economy” and for positioning itself as a technology hub in the region, saying: “This is a perfect fit for our business platform and for our current technology build.”
“After evaluating the Qatari market, we are exploring the possibility of launching our business platform in the country. The level of businesses here are significant and of high quality; the huge interest in the transport sector alone is something that brings great value to the market and to the consumers,” Almarinez told Gulf Times on the sidelines of the recently concluded Qatar Economic Forum 2024.
Almarinez visited Qatar recently to attend the forum and to explore the market with PeekUp's partner, Doha-based Superfuture Ventures, which is led by general partner and CEO Jeniffer Marie Tungol.
Tungol explained that Superfuture Climate Infrastructure Fund is an entity that is supporting Superfuture Ventures’ collaboration with Almarinez. She expressed optimism that the collaboration with PeekUp will spur innovation, growth, and shared success, “benefiting all our stakeholders, including the Overseas Filipino Community in Qatar.”
Almarinez explained that Qatar was among PeekUp’s top expansion locations in the GCC. But he was quick to clarify that the company is also looking at other would-be partner countries as well.
“Aside from Qatar’s geography, we believe this country is an ideal location to execute our operations, simply because it is a good market to be in right now. That said, we also see Qatar as a strategic gateway to larger GCC markets like Saudi Arabia and the UAE, amongst others.
“We're proud of what PeekUp has accomplished this early; we recently launched in the Philippines, and as part of our expansion plans, we are very interested in gaining access to the Qatari market, so we plan to elevate the ride-hailing service to the next level by offering five-star service.”
Almarinez also pointed out that PeekUp’s objectives are aligned with the goals of Qatar National Vision 2030, as well as initiatives of the Ministry of Transport to achieve a zero-emission transition in transportation.
He noted that utilising electric vehicles (EVs) is “perfectly aligned” with PeekUp’s roadmap in the near future, which includes plans to launch another product currently in the development stage called ‘PeekUp Blue’, which is an EV equipped with artificial intelligence (AI) that could solve a lot of complex tasks.
“The business model of PeekUp is aligned with the vision of Qatar. This is why we're very keen on our expansion here, because we're looking for partner countries that have similar interests and the same vision and direction.
“And Qatar National Vision 2030 is a great alignment for us, so we’re very keen on supporting this as well. We believe in the partnership between the private and public sector, which provides for regulatory laws that we intend to abide by,” he emphasised.
He added: “I believe that technology continues to evolve and that it needs continuous enhancement, so it is paramount for us to continue developing not only our technology but ways to address the needs of both consumers and transport operators.
“One of the prime assets of our technology is its flexibility. Once we have expanded our business globally, we not only intend to share our best practices, but we also want to learn and adapt from the best practices of the countries we operate in.”
PeekUp founder and CEO Dave M Almarinez during the Qatar Economic Forum 2024.
