Which is exactly the goal of those unicorns in the first place. Once you've smothered the competition in investor money, you're free to raise prices to profitability and beyond.
Like ripping out Detroit's streetcars just to sell more cars.
Like ripping out Detroit's streetcars just to sell more cars.
That's the theory at least. How much can Uber realistically raise their prices before people realize that yellow cabs or driving themselves is just too much cheaper to ignore. So they'll have to massively increase prices and subsequently kill off their own userbase. It's a lose lose and I don't think any of these companies expecting to pull this off will survive.
They can increase the prices significantly and I will continue to use them over cabs.
Of course, if a company started raising prices to profitability, perhaps it would be "worthwhile" for another group of investors to come along and start the whole cycle over again with a new - excessively funded - startup.