Executive Summary / Key Takeaways

• Strategic Pivot to Ride-Hailing: Marti Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:MRT) has successfully executed a strategic shift, transitioning its core focus from two-wheeled electric vehicles to high-growth ride-hailing operations, capitalizing on Turkey's significant unmet demand for tech-enabled urban mobility.
• Monetization Inflection Point: The company began monetizing its ride-hailing service in October 2024, introducing a dynamic pricing model in January 2025. This move is already generating strong momentum, propelling Marti towards a projected near-doubling of revenue to $34 million and positive adjusted EBITDA in 2025.
• Technological and Operational Edge: Marti leverages proprietary software, IoT infrastructure, and the recently acquired Zoba AI-powered optimization platform. Zoba has demonstrably improved efficiency, leading to a 2x-2.4x increase in daily rides per vehicle for optimized deployments, significantly enhancing profitability and competitive advantage.
• Clear Market Leadership: As the first-mover and only at-scale ride-hailing operator in Turkey, Marti has rapidly scaled its user base, exceeding June 2025 targets for riders and drivers ahead of schedule. Its multimodal strategy further strengthens network effects and rider acquisition.
• Significant Untapped Market Potential: Turkey represents a substantial, underserved ride-hailing market, with Marti projecting a $3 billion annual revenue opportunity at maturity, driven by high demand and limited traditional alternatives.

The Turkish Mobility Landscape: A Market Ripe for Disruption

Marti Technologies, Inc. has established itself as Türkiye's leading mobility super app, offering a diverse suite of transportation services. Founded in 2018, the company initially built its foundation on a large fleet of rental e-mopeds, e-bikes, and e-scooters, quickly becoming the top urban mobility app across both iOS and Android platforms in Turkey. This early success was underpinned by proprietary software systems and IoT infrastructure, which provided a technological backbone for its operations.

The strategic narrative for Marti, however, has fundamentally shifted over the past two-and-a-half years. Recognizing the immense, unmet demand for tech-enabled urban transportation in Turkey, Marti embarked on a pivotal transition, prioritizing its ride-hailing service. This market is characterized by costly car ownership, low metro density, severe traffic congestion, and a scarcity of traditional taxis, creating a compelling need for efficient, affordable, and accessible alternatives. Marti's ride-hailing service, connecting riders with car, motorcycle, and taxi drivers, directly addresses these pain points.

The Ride-Hailing Revolution: From Growth to Monetization

Marti's ride-hailing journey began as a pilot in October 2022, initially unmonetized to prioritize rapid user acquisition and market penetration. This strategy proved highly effective, leading to its establishment as a distinct operating segment in 2023. The company invested $13 million in the service from its launch through December 2023, accelerating the pace to $2.2 million per month in the first half of 2024. This capital-efficient approach fueled explosive growth.

By the end of 2023, unique ride-hailing riders surged over 300% to nearly 498,000, and registered drivers grew over 160% to more than 106,000. This momentum continued into 2024, with unique riders reaching 1.66 million (a 233% increase from 2023) and registered drivers growing to 262,000 (a 146% increase). The growth trajectory has been remarkable, with Marti exceeding its June 30, 2025 targets ahead of schedule, reaching 2.15 million riders and 314 thousand registered drivers by June 3, 2025. This rapid expansion underscores the significant unmet demand in the Turkish market, where Marti is currently the only at-scale ride-hailing operator.

A pivotal moment arrived in October 2024 when Marti began monetizing its ride-hailing service through a driver subscription package. This was further refined in January 2025 with the introduction of a dynamic pricing model. This model optimizes match rates by adjusting pricing based on real-time factors like demand, supply, traffic, and weather, ensuring efficiency and user satisfaction. While current take rates remain in the single digits, management plans for gradual increases, presenting a clear path for future revenue upside.

Competitive Positioning: A Local Leader's Advantage

Marti holds a formidable competitive position in Turkey's urban mobility market. It is the number one urban mobility app on both major app stores and stands as the only at-scale car-hailing and motorcycle-hailing provider in the country, alongside being the largest electric vehicle operator with a 59% market share in its two-wheeled EV segment. This first-mover advantage in ride-hailing is a significant moat in a double-sided marketplace business model. The larger Marti becomes before significant competition emerges, the higher its steady-state market share is likely to be.

The Turkish market dynamics further bolster Marti's position. Four of the top five urban mobility apps in Turkey are local, aligning with global benchmarks that show local companies often win their respective mobility markets due to operational advantages and deep understanding of local nuances. While global players like Lime and Bird operate on a larger scale globally, Marti's localized approach and first-mover advantage in Turkey provide a distinct edge. Marti's estimated 40-50% year-over-year revenue growth in Turkey outpaces global micromobility market growth (20-25%) and competitors like Bird (BRDS) (25% revenue growth in 2023).

Marti's take rates, currently in the single digits, are a small fraction of what many drivers would pay to rent a taxi medallion, contributing to strong driver acquisition and retention. This contrasts sharply with Istanbul's traditional taxi market, which has less than 20,000 drivers compared to Marti's over 88,000 registered drivers in the city by late 2023. Management views the quality and quantity of traditional taxi services as "abysmal," making Marti's economical, efficient, and easy-to-use service highly appealing. The company is not deterred by potential competition, believing its first-mover status and local expertise are the "magical formula to win the highest market share."

Technological Moat: AI-Powered Efficiency and Multimodal Synergy

Marti's operational prowess is deeply rooted in its technological differentiators. Beyond its foundational proprietary software and IoT infrastructure, a significant enhancement came with the February 2024 acquisition of Zoba's intellectual property and software assets. Zoba is an AI-powered software-as-a-service platform that provides dynamic fleet optimization algorithms for two-wheeled electric vehicle operators. This technology intelligently optimizes vehicle deployment locations and schedules operational tasks like battery swaps and rebalances to maximize ridership and minimize inefficiencies.

The benefits of Zoba's integration are tangible and quantifiable. A pilot project in late 2023 demonstrated its value, and in the first half of 2024, vehicles deployed using Zoba's algorithms achieved 2 times higher daily rides per vehicle than those deployed without it. This figure further increased to 2.4 times in the second half of 2024, showcasing both its effectiveness and continued room for improvement. Critically, the additional revenue generated by Zoba's deployment recommendations in the first year following the acquisition has already returned more than twice Marti's acquisition cost. This technological edge not only enhances operational efficiency and profitability but also strengthens Marti's competitive moat by enabling superior fleet utilization and service availability.

Marti's multimodal strategy further leverages its technological platform. The company's data consistently shows that existing services act as a cost-free rider acquisition channel for new modalities. For instance, 70-85% of riders for various modalities were introduced to Marti through another service, and 26-81% subsequently used other Marti modalities after their first ride. This cross-pollination creates significant economic benefits: multimodal riders generate 4.1 times higher rides per rider and 3.7 times higher revenue per rider compared to single-modality users. This reinforces the company's decision to invest in the balanced growth of its diverse services.

Financial Performance and Outlook: An Inflection Point

Marti's financial performance in 2024 marked a crucial inflection point, driven by the monetization of its ride-hailing service and enhanced operational efficiencies. The company generated $18.7 million in revenue for 2024, exceeding its guidance of $16.6 million. Adjusted EBITDA for the year came in at negative $19.3 million, also surpassing its guidance of negative $22.5 million. This beat was primarily due to the earlier-than-anticipated monetization of ride-hailing and greater-than-expected efficiencies in the two-wheeled electric vehicle segment.

The two-wheeled electric vehicle segment, while no longer the primary growth driver, has seen significant profitability enhancements. In 2024, its cost of revenues decreased by 10.5% year-over-year despite managing a similarly sized fleet. In the first half of 2024, adjusted EBITDA for this segment was nearly breakeven at negative $0.2 million, a substantial improvement from negative $4.7 million in H1 2023. This was achieved through a 35% reduction in cost of revenues, including a 29% reduction in field staff and a 57% reduction in repair and maintenance personnel. Pricing actions, such as a 77% increase in Turkish Lira prices from Q3 2023 to Q2 2024, also led to a 38% increase in revenue per ride in US dollars and a 458% increase in pre-depreciation contribution profit per ride in H1 2024.

Looking ahead, Marti has provided compelling guidance for 2025. The company aims to almost double its revenue to $34 million and expects to achieve positive adjusted EBITDA, excluding incremental investments to accelerate ride-hailing growth. This guidance assumes continued operations in its existing four major cities (Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, and Antalya) and a similarly sized general and administrative (G&A) team, with resources reallocated from two-wheeled to ride-hailing operations. Cash-based G&A expenses actually decreased from $13.1 million in 2023 to $12.1 million in 2024, reflecting team efficiencies.

Marti projects a substantial $3 billion annual revenue potential for Turkey's ride-hailing market at maturity, based on a projected 1 billion rides per year and a 30% take rate. The company's 2025 and 2026 investment plan focuses on new city launches, with pilots already underway in additional Turkish cities. Management views any investment in ride-hailing operations as having "unbelievable ROI" given the nascent stage of the market.

Risks and Resilience

While Marti's growth trajectory is compelling, investors should consider the inherent risks. Turkey is known for "mild but constant political turmoil," a factor that management acknowledges as part of the country's DNA. However, Marti believes its business model is "ironclad against any type of negative situation," asserting that people will always need to move around cities regardless of political events. The company also points to Turkey's history of never defaulting on its sovereign debt as an indicator of underlying economic resilience.

Regulatory developments remain a key area to watch. Marti is actively working with the Turkish government to establish a full regulatory framework for ride-hailing, similar to its successful efforts for two-wheeled electric vehicles. The Ministry of Finance's decision to begin taxing drivers is seen as a positive step towards comprehensive regulation. While the current single-digit take rates are favorable for driver retention, future increases will need to be carefully managed to balance profitability with continued market penetration and competitive dynamics.

The company's cash position was approximately $5.15 million at the end of 2024. Marti is actively raising additional capital to extend its runway, and management anticipates that once ride-hailing monetization fully scales, the need for external funding will significantly decrease. The ongoing share repurchase program, with a $6 per share cap, indicates management's belief in the intrinsic value of its shares, which are currently trading significantly lower.

Conclusion

Marti Technologies stands at a pivotal juncture, transforming from a micromobility provider into Turkey's dominant mobility super app, spearheaded by its rapidly expanding ride-hailing service. The strategic pivot, coupled with the successful monetization of ride-hailing and a relentless focus on operational efficiency, has positioned Marti for a significant financial inflection point in 2025. Its technological advantages, particularly the AI-powered Zoba platform, provide a quantifiable edge in a market hungry for modern transportation solutions.

As the clear first-mover and local market leader, Marti is uniquely positioned to capture the substantial $3 billion annual revenue opportunity in Turkey's ride-hailing sector. While macroeconomic and regulatory factors present ongoing considerations, Marti's "ironclad" business model and commitment to capital-efficient growth suggest a resilient path forward. For discerning investors, Marti represents a compelling opportunity to participate in the growth of a market-leading technology platform in a large, underserved geography, with a clear roadmap to profitability.