Below is an email sent today to Uber employees from Brooks Entwistle, Chief Business Officer of Uber’s business in Asia Pacific.

Team,

In 2013, Uber arrived in Singapore with three employees in an office the size of a closet.  Fast forward four years, we have built a ridesharing business and a car rental business, from scratch, tailored specifically to the unique transportation needs of the island state, and regularly serving one in five Singaporeans.

Today I’m excited to announce the next chapter in our journey.

As I just discussed with the Lion City Rentals and Singapore City teams, Uber and ComfortDelGro have entered into a strategic agreement to form a joint venture that brings together one of Asia’s largest transportation companies with the world’s leading ridesharing service to leverage operational excellence and innovative technology at scale.

As part of this joint venture, ComfortDelGro will acquire a 51 percent stake in Uber’s wholly-owned car rental subsidiary in Singapore, Lion City Rentals (LCR).  Uber will retain a 49 percent ownership stake in LCR, maintaining a very active role in the company, in addition to holding three of the seven seats on LCR’s board. The Uber and ComfortDelGro brands and mobile applications will continue to operate independently.

This strategic collaboration is good news for our two companies, it is also great for riders, drivers and for Singapore. ComfortDelGro shares our vision for the future of urban mobility, and with this joint venture Comfort and Uber can accelerate this shared vision of the future, powered by technology that unlocks the true potential of Singapore, for everyone, everywhere

This joint venture is also a testament to the tremendous potential of ridesharing technology in this highly competitive local transportation market, and to our commitment to partnering for greater growth as we continue to build a sustainable global business.

Today would of course not be possible without the hard work of our Singapore teams, and I am excited to see what we can achieve together in this new chapter.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me directly or any member of the leadership team if you have additional questions.

Onwards together,

Brooks