When Uber and Lyft threatened to pull out of Minneapolis, if not the state of Minnesota, over proposed minimum wages for drivers, Murid Amini went into overdrive on his plans to launch a Twin Cities-based rideshare company . More than 700 potential drivers have signed up for information about MOOV , his Woodbury-based start-up, he said, and a week ago, he asked some 580 applicants to authorize background checks. Uber and Lyft since have decided to stick around, following a statewide wage agreement hammered out last weekend by state lawmakers.
So what happens to MOOV now? Despite some challenges covering St. Paul’s $41,000 application and licensing fees with half the money upfront, Amini said he’s still all in. He’s optimistic MOOV will roll into Minneapolis and St.
Paul in June. Technically, he said, he’s met all the insurance criteria to start operating in the suburbs. “When I started this thing, it was before Uber and Lyft were threatening to leave,” Amini said in an interview Thursday.
“My assumption was always that they would stick around. It was a happy coincidence that they were threatening to leave.” But those threats “opened the flood gates for other competitors to crop up,” Amini added.
“I was always planning for them to be here and being the competition. I’m confident we’ll have a better product, a better experience. .
.. We’re excited to start bringing jobs to the local market.
” Like Amini, the founders and proprietors of Wridz and MyWe.