Build the rideshare platform that drivers and riders actually deserve.
Flot is a rideshare company that replaces percentage-based commissions with a flat subscription priced per $1,000 earned. We believe the current platform model is broken: it extracts too much from drivers, obscures costs from riders, and undermines the quality of urban transportation.
Why driver-first is the only viable model
Rideshare platforms run on driver supply. When drivers earn well, they stay and they bring their best. When they don't, they leave, and the entire service degrades. Longer wait times, vehicle wear, and reduced availability are the downstream effects of a platform that treats drivers as interchangeable labour rather than the core product.
The incumbent model charges a percentage of every fare, designed to maximize platform revenue rather than driver income. At take rates averaging 40% and peaking at 65% on individual rides (per NELP 2025), drivers in Ontario are left with earnings that, after gas, insurance, and HST, often fall below minimum wage. That's not sustainable for drivers, and it's not sustainable for the cities that depend on reliable transportation.
Flot's subscription model aligns incentives differently. We earn only when drivers earn: when a driver hits $1,000 in earnings, they pay the subscription, and we split nothing else. That means we have every reason to help drivers succeed rather than take more of what they earn.
Why Kitchener–Waterloo first?
KW is a tech-forward city where ride demand is growing faster than incumbent capacity. We're starting here, with our drivers, before expanding to Toronto under the city's PTC framework. A smaller market lets us build trust, iterate quickly, and prove that the model works.
Because Flot takes less per ride than incumbents, riders pay less on the same trip. When the platform takes 40% of every fare, riders fund that gap. When the platform takes a flat $1.50, they don't. The same logic that pays drivers more pays riders less.
Math, not magic.
A note from Nithin
I started Flot because the math didn't work for the people doing the actual driving. In Ontario, all-in platform take rates have climbed to around 40% on average and as much as 65% on individual rides, growing since algorithmic pricing arrived. Spend an afternoon talking to drivers in Kitchener–Waterloo and you'll hear the same story. They want to keep driving, but after gas, insurance, and HST, the take-home isn't there anymore.
Flot replaces the commission with a flat fee per $1,000 earned. Drivers keep what they earn. The platform gets paid only for the infrastructure it actually provides, not a percentage of someone else's labour. I'm building this carefully, here in KW first, because the version of rideshare I want to put into the world isn't one that takes shortcuts on the people moving everyone else around.
Nithin Natarajan, Founder
Building in public
Flot is currently pre-launch and pre-revenue. We're building in public, starting with drivers and riders in KW who believe the model is worth trying. If you'd like to support or invest, reach out via the contact page.
Be part of what we're building
Join the waitlist or get in touch. Drivers, riders, and supporters all welcome.