Talk:Wheely/Archive 1

Latest comment: 1 year ago by InfiniteNexus in topic New logo
Archive 1

Not a carpool service

Hello again! I am still hoping for a reply to my first request above, but in the meantime, I wanted to point out another error. Back in December 2019, an editor updated the first sentence to say, "Wheely is a UK-based on-demand carpool service that offers luxury vehicles and personal drivers service via iOS and Android mobile apps."

This is not true. Wheely is not a carpool service. I propose changing the sentence to say, "Wheely is a premium ride-hailing service which allows users to book chauffeur-driven journeys on-demand and in advance, via iOS and Android mobile apps." Thanks to Wikipedia editors for reviewing this request. Elena Wheely (talk) 09:37, 7 February 2020 (UTC)

@Rsrikanth05: Thanks for updating the article's wording in what ways you're comfortable. I'm curious if you're willing to address the Yandex.Taxi/GetTaxi part of this request as well, or the one below? There are several inaccuracies within this article I hope to fix. Thanks! Elena Wheely (talk) 13:45, 19 February 2020 (UTC)

Removal of additional services

Hello, I would like to submit a request on behalf of Wheely to remove the additional services section of the article, most of which is sourced by VC.ru. I do not believe this should be considered a reliable source, and much of the text is related to one-off promotions (which I think is unnecessary detail, or possibly even promotional). I'm trying to update and improve the integrity of this page. Can an editor update the article for me? Elena Wheely (talk) 11:56, 9 March 2020 (UTC)

Reply 19-MAR-2020

   Edit request implemented    Spintendo  20:17, 19 March 2020 (UTC)

Removal of inaccurate text

Hello again! Thank you to the editor who assisted with the above request. For my next request, I propose removing the following claims for reasons outlined below:

  • "Having its own fleet of hybrid Toyota Prius, the company promoted itself as a cost-saving and environment-friendly service for everyday rides."
    • Reason: This is not confirmed by the subsequent inline citations.
  • "In 2013—2017 Wheely extended its staff from 20 to 150 drivers and switched to E-segment, S-segment, and V-class cars."
    • Reason: This is not specifically confirmed by the subsequent inline citations. This is also factually inaccurate because Wheely does not employ drivers as staff.
  • "While local government refused to renew Uber operator’s license due to passenger safety issues,"
    • Reason: This text is about Uber, not Wheely. I think keeping "In early 2018 Wheely was approved for prolongation up to 2023." about London is fine.

Additionally, I would like editors to please change "carpool" to "ride-hailing" in the article's opening sentence.

  • Reason: Wheely is not a carpool (vehicle sharing) service. Wheely is a ride-hailing service allowing users to book chauffeur-driven journeys on-demand and in advance, via iOS and Android mobile apps. This is not the same as sharing a car with friends or colleagues, and Wheely is not described as a carpooling service in sourcing.

Thank you for helping to improve the accuracy of this page. Elena Wheely (talk) 14:42, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

Elena Wheely, I have since performed your request. Here are my responses:
  • "Having its own fleet of hybrid Toyota Prius, the company promoted itself as a cost-saving and environment-friendly service for everyday rides."   Partly done, I have not removed the text but have instead added a citation to back it up.
  • "In 2013—2017 Wheely extended its staff from 20 to 150 drivers and switched to E-segment, S-segment, and V-class cars."   Done, I've removed the bit about the number of drivers, but the sources do confirm the type of cars.
  • "While local government refused to renew Uber operator’s license due to passenger safety issues,"   Done
  • Additionally, I would like editors to please change "carpool" to "ride-hailing" in the article's opening sentence.   Done
Feel free to ask any questions. — Yours, BᴇʀʀᴇʟʏTalkContribs 15:41, 1 April 2020 (UTC)
@Berrely: Thanks for your help here. I am marking this request as answered. Elena Wheely (talk) 14:32, 8 April 2020 (UTC)

Requests

Hello again. I am still waiting on feedback on the above suggests, but wanted to identify some additional edit requests:

  • In the infobox, change "London, Moscow, Paris, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar and Perm" to "Russia, United Kingdom, France" so the list of cities doesn't need to keep being updated as services are launched or eliminated.   Done
  • Remove: "The local fleet included 40 Mercedes-Benz E-Class 2011-2012 from its car rental partners. The next year Wheely entered the St. Petersburg market with 35 Mercedes-Benz, Bentley, Lexus, Audi, and BMW cars. In 2014—2018 the company expanded to Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Perm, and Sochi. To enter the Krasnodar market, Wheely acquired and restructured major local taxi operator ‘Five Sevens’. Replace with the following: "Wheely launched in St. Petersburg in 2013, and Kazan, Perm, Sochi, and Yekaterinburg in 2014. This is more accurate, summary form, and representative of the citations.   Done
  • Remove: "Wheely was repeatedly praised as one of the most successful Russian startups. In 2013 the Kommersant newspaper ranked it 44 among 50 of the best venture projects in Russia. Later the same year Mashable listed it among the most noteworthy Russian startups. In 2014 ‘Wired’ put Wheely on the list of ‘hottest’ startups in Moscow." These claims are sourced by the publications presenting the recognitions. Do these meet Wikipedia's rules for third-party sourcing?   Not done, I'm a little confused as to what you mean. Mashable is quite reliable and according to WP:RSP Wired is very reliable. The reason they are cited is to prove that Wheely was actually recognised by these companies, not just some lies. Could you please clarify? — Yours, BᴇʀʀᴇʟʏTalkContribs 08:01, 7 April 2020 (UTC)


@Berrely: I noticed you replied to my note at WikiProject Transport. I am still struggling to get help with fixing this article, even when I am using the edit request template. Would you be willing to review the above requests? Any help would be appreciated. Elena Wheely (talk) 13:55, 1 April 2020 (UTC)

@Berrely: Thanks for your help above. Sorry for any confusion with the third request. I did not mean to suggest the sources were unreliable. I'd thought that recognition had to be supported by a different source than the one presenting the award or publishing the list, especially where it's not as prominent a list (e.g. not from a major publication). I hope this clarification helps, and thanks again for your continued help updating this article. Elena Wheely (talk) 09:04, 14 April 2020 (UTC)

Corrections

Hello! As noted at User talk:Elena Wheely, my name is Elena and I work for Wheely. I registered this account to propose updates to the company's page and I'll avoid editing the article myself. I'd like to suggest rewording the last sentence of the History section, which is not well written and outdated.

Currently, the sentence reads:

  • "Further expansion is scheduled on summer 2019, this time the company launches in Paris."

I propose changing this to the following:

  • "In 2019, Wheely launched the service in Paris." There are additional sources here and here.

The article was translated from Russian, so there may be some other wording corrections needed as well. Also, in the same section, I think "While Yandex.Taxi and GetTaxi targeted the economy-class rides," should be removed because one citation does not mention either company and the other confirm they are taxi services but does not say they "targeted the economy-class rides…". I think the sentence still makes sense even if the first part is removed.

Thanks to Wikipedia editors for reviewing this request to update the page. Elena Wheely (talk) 13:19, 22 January 2020 (UTC)

Hi Elena Wheely, I took a look at the sources you mentioned. Both of them are from before Wheely launched its services in Paris. Unfortunately, despite a good search thru Google News, I couldn't find any English language sources for it. Unfortunately, I don't speak French, else I'd have looked at French news sources. Until I can find a verifiable source that confirms the launch in Paris, I shall refrain from amending the text. To anyone else, would a primary source suffice here: Wheely's Paris page exists. --Rsrikanth05 (talk) 20:54, 14 February 2020 (UTC)
@Rsrikanth05: Thanks for helping here. I'm marking this request as answered but do you have thoughts on the Yandex.Taxi/GetTaxi part of this request? Thanks, Elena Wheely (talk) 14:23, 8 April 2020 (UTC)
Hi @Elena Wheely:, apologies, I've been a bit busy. I will look at this in a bit and get back to you. --Rsrikanth05 (talk) 08:36, 11 April 2020 (UTC)
@Rsrikanth05: Thank you for getting back in touch. I look forward to your reply. Elena Wheely (talk) 16:05, 15 April 2020 (UTC)

English-language sources

Hello again. I noticed the majority of references (I count 17) are written in Russian.

Wikipedia:Verifiability#Non-English_sources says, "Citations to non-English reliable sources are allowed on the English Wikipedia. However, because this project is in English, English-language sources are preferred over non-English ones when available and of equal quality and relevance." I'd like to take this opportunity to share some English-language sources for editors to consider incorporating into the article, or replacing Russian-language sources appropriately:

Funding: Here are some English-language sources about funding:

Rankings: Additionally, here are some English-language sources in which Wheely was ranked:

I understand replacing sources is not required, but I hope editors will find these helpful. Thank you. Elena Wheely (talk) 15:05, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

Elena Wheely, this list is very useful and I'll be happy to add them, you're right, most of the sources are in Russian so it is slightly convenient. Though it would be better to replace the sources with English ones, it is not a must as the guidelines say. So far I've added 4 of them, I'll try and do some more later. — Yours, BᴇʀʀᴇʟʏTalkContribs 08:50, 7 April 2020 (UTC)
@Berrely: Thank you for adding some English-language sources to the article. I spotted another place where an English-language source could be added both to confirm information in the article and replace a less-reliable source. For the mention of the Paris launch in the History section, could you replace the Vedomosti (Russian-language) source with the following CNBC (English-language) source:
In early 2018 Wheely relaunched in London[1] and expanded in 2019, launching services in Paris.[2]?
Also, Paris is not yet listed as one of Wheely's locations in the introduction. Would you mind changing "The service operates in London, Moscow, and St. Petersburg" to "The company operates in London, Paris, Moscow and a few other cities in Russia? The CNBC news article and Wikipedia article both confirm Wheely's launch in Paris. Thank you. Elena Wheely (talk) 16:06, 14 April 2020 (UTC)

  Done — Yours, Berrely • TalkContribs 16:37, 21 April 2020 (UTC)

References

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference k2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Browne, Ryan (27 February 2020). "Europe's 'luxury' competitor to Uber plans on raising $30 million to fuel global expansion". CNBC. Retrieved 13 April 2020.

Incorrect co-founder

Hello again. I've been working to update and improve this Wikipedia by submitting requests on this Talk page. However, an unregistered editor has recently added mention of Pascal Schümperli as a "missing co-founder". This is incorrect. Can someone please remove these 3 mentions of Schümperli from the page on my behalf? Elena Wheely (talk) 17:04, 14 April 2020 (UTC)

  Done — Yours, Berrely • TalkContribs 16:37, 21 April 2020 (UTC)
@Berrely: Thanks for your help here and above. I noticed there's a stray "}}" after "...and expanded in 2019, launching services in Paris" in History, if you wanted to fix. Thanks again! Elena Wheely (talk) 08:13, 22 April 2020 (UTC)
Elena Wheely, sorry about that!   Fixed — Yours, Berrely • TalkContribs 08:19, 22 April 2020 (UTC)
@Berrely: Thanks for your continued assistance. Elena Wheely (talk) 13:17, 24 April 2020 (UTC)

Updated financial information

Hello again. I see User:Berrely added some financial information from 2016, which is based on a Forbes.ru contributor piece.

I'd like to replace with more up to date financials, per this CNBC source which is already used as a citation in the article and confirms $110 million in gross bookings. Berrely, do you mind updating the inbox and introduction accordingly?

Related to the infobox and introduction, can you please change "comapny" to "company" and replace our street address, which we don't make broadly publicly available and prefer not to include, with simply "London, United Kingdom"?

Thanks again! Elena Wheely (talk) 13:17, 24 April 2020 (UTC)

@Elena Wheely: Fixed the typo and other housekeeping. Pinging @Berrely: for you. GoingBatty (talk) 04:34, 25 April 2020 (UTC)
  Done — Yours, Berrely • TalkContribs 13:27, 25 April 2020 (UTC)
@Berrely: Would it be appropriate to put a hidden comment in the |hq_location= field so another helpful editor doesn't try to readd the street address? GoingBatty (talk) 15:48, 25 April 2020 (UTC)
GoingBatty, you're right, that is a good idea. I've done it. — Yours, Berrely • TalkContribs 09:09, 26 April 2020 (UTC)
@Berrely: Thanks again for your help. Can you remove "late" in the sentence starting, "In late early 2020..."? Elena Wheely (talk) 15:53, 27 April 2020 (UTC)
  Done — Yours, Berrely • TalkContribs 17:56, 27 April 2020 (UTC)

Draft

Hello! On behalf of Wheely, I'd like to propose some improvements to the company's Wikipedia article as part of my work at Beutler Ink. I am taking over Wikipedia requests on behalf of the company for User:Elena Wheely, who no longer works for Wheely. I've reviewed the current article, the above discussions, and changes to date. I agree with Elena's previously stated assessment that there are many issues from a Wikipedia perspective. I'll outline some of the problems here:

  • Much of the article was translated from the Russian Wikipedia article and based on Russian-language sourcing. Some of the inaccuracies and grammatical errors have been addressed above, but there remains some text which is not entirely representative of sourcing.
  • I understand non-English sourcing is allowed, but some of the Russian sources currently used are not reliable (such as Alfa-Bank's website, Apps4all, Forbes.ru contributor pieces, and VC.ru). Some of the English sources are also inappropriate; the official websites for Citibank and Wheely are used as citations.
  • The section headings are confusing. The article starts with History, then follows with Overview and Company, both of which are vague and uncommon heading titles for company biographies. I'd like to propose more common and descriptive headings such as Business model, Services, and Corporate affairs to clarify and organize content.

Wheely has identified a list of inaccuracies and instances in which text is not representative of sourcing. Having reviewed the above discussions, I can see some progress has been made. However, given the extent of the problem and issues flagged by Wheely, I believe it may be more helpful to editors if I simply share a draft article I've put together based on reputable secondary coverage. For the draft, which I've saved here, I've used mostly English-language sourcing and ensured the text reflects journalistic coverage. Using this draft, I will ask editors to review specific sections and update the article appropriately. I'm happy to seek help from the editors who have assisted thus far, and invite other editors to weigh in as well. I'll propose changes one section at a time to avoid giving editors too much to review at once.

History (and Recognition)

First, I'd like to focus on the History section, which currently has subsections for the United Kingdom, Russia, and Recognition. Here are some problems:

  • Some details are repeated: For example, the "minicab aggregator" descriptor and 2012 launch are mentioned twice, as is the 2018 relaunch.
  • Not all of the text is representative of sourcing. For example, Yandex.Taxi and GetTaxi are mentioned, but (as Elena mentioned above) one citation does not mention either and the other mentions both as taxi services but fails to confirm they "targeted the economy-class rides".
  • Anton Chirkunov began working on Wheely in 2010; sources do not explicitly say the service launched in Zürich, Vienna, and Amsterdam then.

I've worked to draft accurate and neutral content based on English-language sourcing. I've kept Russian-language sourcing to confirm the launches in Saint Petersburg, Kazan, Perm, Sochi, and Yekaterinburg, per the current article, and Wheely has confirmed the accuracy of these claims. I've eliminated the subheadings for the United Kingdom and Russia, leaving a single-section overview of the company's history presented in chronological order. I've included mention of major milestones and launches, changes to the business model, a couple statistics for the number of drivers, and a few sentences about funding history.

The draft I've shared has Recognition as a standalone section, as opposed to a History subsection. There are a few additional recognitions which could be mentioned here, but I believe the text I've drafted is a better representation of sourcing and focuses more on the service as opposed to the company's startup status.

@Rsrikanth05, Spintendo, and Berrely: In the spirit of fairness and transparency, I'd like to make each of you aware of this transfer from Elena to myself and invite you to review the draft article I've published here. As stated above, I plan to submit subsequent requests to address other sections of the article, but for now, would any of you care to review the proposed changes to History (and Reception)? I think you'll find the claims are easy to verify when English-language sources are used, and I'd like to think this overview is a significant improvement over the current text. I'm happy to answer questions here or on my user talk page.

Thanks! Inkian Jason (talk) 15:06, 19 May 2020 (UTC)

Hi @Inkian Jason:, thanks for informing us of the change. I'd be happy to help carry out some of the edits. I'll try to do a copyedit on the History section, and I'll try to do your other tasks later. Are there any specific requests you have? — Yours, Berrely • TalkContribs 16:39, 19 May 2020 (UTC)
@Berrely: Thanks for offering to help! I've outlined a few specific concerns with the History above and I'm offering an improved draft based on secondary coverage, which you can review here: User:Inkian_Jason/Wheely#History (and User:Inkian_Jason/Wheely#Recognition). Would you be willing to take a look at my draft and move it over to the live article? I'll be around to answer questions if you have any. Thanks again! Inkian Jason (talk) 16:50, 19 May 2020 (UTC)
Inkian Jason, thanks for the quick reply. The draft is much better written, but do you want to delete the whole history section and replace it with that, or do you want me to merge it and delete the introduction ot the histroy section. I'll assume the latter. — Yours, Berrely • TalkContribs 16:52, 19 May 2020 (UTC)
@Berrely: If you're generally comfortable with how I've laid out the other sections of the article, I'd be fine with replacing the entire History section with the one I've drafted. I can submit subsequent requests for the other sections, if you'd prefer to review those separately. Inkian Jason (talk) 17:48, 19 May 2020 (UTC)

@Inkian Jason: Given how long you've been waiting for a reply, I'll take over for Berrely, although of course their comments are still welcome. Please feel free to replace § History only, with exactly what is in your draft. That way you will get credit for the change, this is allowed as I've reviewed your draft. I do not think that § Recognition is WP:DUE and I've removed it in the current version of the article, moving some of it up to the lead (Wired, The Financial Times). Some of the awards were not really notable (Mashable's), or were too dated (Kommersant's); in your draft version, it is way too WP:NOTPROMO in my opinion for us to repeat British GQ's description of Wheely as "one of the best things in the world", even under WP:RSOPINION, I'm afraid. I know that this was probably not your intention, but also in your draft you make it seem like Esquire and Harper's Bazaar gave the company separate awards, when in actuality, Natalie Salmon, the same author, wrote both opinions. Perhaps one of those only can appear in "Overview" when you have time to work on that section; if you choose one, I'd go for Esquire. Psiĥedelisto (talkcontribs) 00:07, 26 May 2020 (UTC)

@Psiĥedelisto: Thank you for reviewing. Usually I prefer not to make edits to keep things crystal clear from a COI perspective. Given this, would be you be willing to take the History wording live? Inkian Jason (talk) 15:29, 26 May 2020 (UTC)
@Inkian Jason: No problem. I've done it. Psiĥedelisto (talkcontribs) 16:40, 26 May 2020 (UTC)
@Psiĥedelisto: Thank you so much! I noticed the update introduced some reference errors because the sources are defined higher up in my draft page. In order to resolve the errors and for the purpose of improving the article further in general, are you willing to review the proposed Business model, Services, and Corporate affairs sections (all of which are fairly short) as replacements for the current Overview and Company sections? The headings "Overview" and "Company" are not particularly well-defined or helpful to readers, but the proposed sections generally cover the same topics but hopefully with more clarity and detail based on secondary coverage. The overview is also problematic because the sentence "The company has also partnered with Alfa-Bank and Citibank, providing free airport transfers for holders of some premium credit cards" is promotional and sourced by the company's official websites. I should also note, the Company section has investment info which is now part of History. Psiĥedelisto, if you agree with the proposed improvements, would you be willing to update the article again on my behalf? Thanks again! Inkian Jason (talk) 17:10, 26 May 2020 (UTC)
@Inkian Jason: No problem. Sorry about the broken cites, the breakage did not show up in the WP:VE, which I most often use to edit. The reason is, it seems, it silently changed the cite names, and thought that ones it didn't see were defined in templates... Psiĥedelisto (talkcontribs) 17:27, 26 May 2020 (UTC)
@Psiĥedelisto: Thanks again for your help, the page is looking much better, especially with the reference errors fixed. I've collapsed the implemented text on my draft page. Thanks for copying over "Prior to receiving $15 million in a Series B round led by the venture capital firm Concentric in 2019, Wheely was primarily funded by Chirkunov's family and friends. The company also received a $25,000 grant from Yuri Milner's StartFellows project. Wheely had raised $28 million from investors, as of 2020.", but now there's now some redundant information re: StartFellows and total funding in the Ownership section. Do you mind removing the following?
  • Chirkunov's family members paid Initial investments of $2.5 million for software and hardware to launch Wheely. In December 2011, Wheely won a $25,000 grant from Start Fellows initiative, which was established by Pavel Durov and Yuri Milner. Wheely also received a grant of 5.9 million Russian rubles from the Russian governmental non-profitable organization The Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises in Science and Technology. Total investments in Wheely grew to $13 million in 2018.
  • Anton Chirkunov controls Wheely and owns over 50% of its shares. These sources are not reliable.
  • In 2017, companies Yota, Lukoil and Hilton Hotels & Resorts brought 6% of Wheely's annual income. The company has also partnered with Alfa-Bank and Citibank, providing free airport transfers for holders of some premium credit cards. This is promotional and the latter part is just sourced by the company's websites.
Also, the current Ownership section is mostly about funding/investments, so I propose removing the heading and just adding these details to the general History section. If this works for you, do you mind updating based on the draft? Thank you! Inkian Jason (talk) 18:58, 26 May 2020 (UTC)

@Inkian Jason: I'm sorry, I can't do that. I disagree that the sources are unreliable, and ownership information is valuable for Wikipedia. Who owns a controlling stake, according to you? Why are the sources unreliable? Please evaluate each one and give reasons why they fail WP:RS according to our policies. Psiĥedelisto (talkcontribs) 19:37, 26 May 2020 (UTC)

@Psiĥedelisto: Thanks for your patience here! Sorry this took me a while, as I wanted to check a couple of details with Wheely. Apologies for not being clear around the sourcing, please allow me to clarify why I'm suggesting trimming some of this information:
No problem. I will respond point by point. Please note, I do not speak Russian. I do however know the alphabet, since I have made quite a few Cyrillic fonts. Fortunately, Russian seems to be one of the languages Google Translate is not totally incompetent at. Of course, machine translations shouldn't be pasted into Wikipedia, but to vet sources, it's all I've got.  
  • The first three sentences are sourced to a Delovoy Peterburg article and to a Forbes.ru article; the Delovoy Peterburg article doesn't seem to include any of the information, and the Forbes article is a contributor piece, which are not considered reliable sources.
Delovoy Peterburg
I think that the cite order is just wrong. Clearly this line is well sourced, considering the date of the article:
In December 2011, Wheely won a $25,000 grant from Start Fellows initiative, which was established by Pavel Durov and Yuri Milner.
From (Google Translate):
In addition, applications are still being accepted - you can report your desire to apply for a grant at: apply@milnerdurov.com.  Y
The only thing I don't see is the value.
Forbes.ru
Per WP:RSP, you are correct. However, I am not ready to give up. I found further sources to rescue this information.
Expert
From an interview with the man himself:
В 2012 году стартап получил небольшие гранты от правительства Москвы и StartFellows Павла Дурова и Юрия Мильнера. Остальные деньги, от, что называется, friends and family.
In 2012, the startup received small grants from the Moscow government and StartFellows Pavel Durov and Yuri Milner. The remaining money, from what is called friends and family.
So, this is clearly an acknowledgement in an RS that the government helped to fund Wheely. How much and name of the program, these questions remain. But now that I know it's true, I can search more...
Kommersant
100% ООО «Вили» владеет ООО «Вили Холдинг», в котором 59,6% долей принадлежит Антону Чиркунову. Общий объем привлеченных инвестиций оценивается в $13 млн, среди них — личные средства основателя, грант на $25 тыс. от Юрия Мильнера и Павла Дурова и гранты Фонда содействия инновациям на общую сумму 5,9 млн руб.
100% of Vili LLC is owned by Vili Holding LLC, in which Anton Chirkunov owns a 59.6% stake. The total amount of attracted investments is estimated at $ 13 million, among them - the personal funds of the founder, a grant of $ 25 thousand from Yuri Milner and Pavel Durov and grants from the Innovation Assistance Fund totaling 5.9 million rubles.
OK, so what remains? We have now that he has a 59.6% stake, that the government invested 5.9 million rubles, and that $25,000 came from Milner and Durov. I guess all we need is the family amount...
Elena Nikolaeva, Делай сегодня! Опыт 64 успешных российских стартапов [Do it today! Experience of 64 successful Russian startups].
Warning: might be a pirate website? I have no idea. [1]
Publisher, Олимп-Бизнес, seems well-attested on Russian Wikipedia. And it's our friend Nikolaeva again. She is clearly a respected Russian journalist.
Всего в проект Чиркунов вложил 2,5 млн долларов – 1,2 млн на старте и 1,3 млн потом. Основные инвестиции поступили, что называется, от friends and family, от близкого круга.
In total, Chirkunov invested $ 2.5 million in the project - 1.2 million at the start and 1.3 million afterwards. The main investments came, as they say, from friends and family, from a close circle.
I am more than satisfied with this. $2.5 million from Chirkunov, most of which came from friends and family. We might need a "most". Complete removal is totally undue given the strength of the sources.
  • The fourth sentence about $13m funding by 2018 is well-sourced, but just seemed a bit vague to include and potentially redundant when a total figure for funding to date in 2020 is included.
History of how much the company is worth is valuable. If it's growing or shrinking is something users may want to know.
  • For the sentence about Chirkunov's stake, the Vedomosti source quotes Chirkunov as saying he owns over 50%, and typically I've found editors prefer to see this type of information from a secondary source, and wouldn't find a quote reliable. And VC.ru does not seem like an ideal source. As well, Wheely shared that the percentage owned by Chirkunov doesn't directly relate to control of the company, as in VC companies control is determined by what rights shareholders / the board of directors and management have, depending on the company's articles of associations and the shareholder agreement.
No, you are misunderstanding the policies. Vedomosti is a reliable source. (Anyway, it's moot, as I found Kommersant.) I've been interviewed before by The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and so on. Much of what I say does not make it in. Why? Unverifiable. I do not believe that their editors would just print an outrageous lie unrebutted. WP:PRIMARY does not apply evenly to quotes in independent sources, assuming they have editorial policies where they fact-check quotes from their subjects, which I'd be shocked if they didn't, given they're a business magazine, and it would be so easy for them to prove it. And if they catch him in a lie, what a juicy story, isn't it? So, no, this is not a right interpretation. VC.ru can be removed as we have Vedomosti and Kommersant, I agree. I'm not ready to say it's totally not an RS though. We normally allow trade rags for limited purposes, to be RS in their field. See also WP:OBSCURE.
  • There is also some redundant information as StartFellows is mentioned twice.
Yes, OK, one can be removed.
Overall, I agree with you that details like ownership are valuable, but family and friends and grant presenters are not owners of the company. As the information in the section is mainly about investments, especially with the inclusion of the grants, the Ownership heading might not be the best fit. My proposal is to move the key well-sourced content to History instead, though I defer to you and others if there might be another better placement or heading option. Does this help? Inkian Jason (talk) 13:42, 4 June 2020 (UTC)
@Inkian Jason: I responded point by point. Yes, a section heading reorganization is probably due, as you are correct, grants do not give ownership as far as I know. Please work the sources I found into your draft and ping me, or open a new WP:ER. Best, Psiĥedelisto (talkcontribs) please always ping! 23:45, 9 June 2020 (UTC)

@Psiĥedelisto: Thanks for your thorough review of text and sourcing.

I suggest we move the line about Anton's shares to the Corporate affairs section, without mention of him "controlling" the company:

As of 2018, Chirkunov owned 59.6% of the shares in Wheely.[1]

References

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kommersant was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

I've updated the investments info based on the sources and suggestions you've made above. I'm not sure how you prefer to source the $2.5 million initial investment (I'm assuming not the "pirate" link), but would this source work? I suggest the following text as a subsection of Corporate affairs called Investments:

Chirkunov initially invested $2.5 million in the company, most of which came from friends and family. Wheely won a $25,000 grant from Start Fellows initiative, which was established by Pavel Durov and Yuri Milner.[1] Wheely also received a grant of 5.9 million Russian rubles from the Russian governmental non-profitable organization The Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises in Science and Technology.[2] Total investments in Wheely grew to $13 million in 2018.[2][3] The company raised $15 million in a Series B round led by the venture capital firm Concentric in 2019.[4][5] Wheely had raised $28 million from investors, as of 2020.[6]

References

  1. ^ Nikolaeva, Elena (2013-01-17). "Такси online" [Taxis online]. Expert (magazine) (in Russian). Retrieved 2020-06-09.
  2. ^ a b "Лондон поднимут на Wheely" [Wheely to launch in London]. Kommersant (in Russian). Vol. 14. 2018-01-26. p. 12. Retrieved 2020-06-09.
  3. ^ Seddon, Max (2018-04-06). "Russian ride-hailing app returns to take on Uber in London". Financial Times. Retrieved 2018-10-15.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Lanxon was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Dillet was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Browne was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

If I'm following all the points made above correctly, this should eliminate the Ownership heading and make the text more accurate. Please let me know if you have further questions or concerns, and thanks again for your help. Inkian Jason (talk) 16:07, 10 June 2020 (UTC)

I see the References are not displaying above. If helpful, I've updated the draft page: User:Inkian Jason/Wheely. You can see where I crossed out text in History and how I propose text re: Anton's shares and investments be displayed under Corporate affairs. I hope this helps, Inkian Jason (talk) 16:12, 10 June 2020 (UTC)

Hello! Good job. About the book, it's actually not required on Wikipedia that sources be publicly available. We are allowed to use books, JSTOR, et cetera. Now, typically for COI editors, we would ask for screenshots. But for this case, I already verified the book exists, the author is a journalist and the publisher is not a vanity press (not a WP:SPS). So you can simply put a {{cite book}} without a URL, perhaps add a "quote" and put the Russian text in it. Psiĥedelisto (talkcontribs) please always ping! 17:32, 10 June 2020 (UTC)

@Psiĥedelisto: I don't know how to copy/paste the Russian text within the source, but I've updated the draft page with the book citation (hopefully correctly). Your help taking this live is much appreciated. Inkian Jason (talk) 17:39, 10 June 2020 (UTC)
@Inkian Jason:   Done—let me know if I did it right. Psiĥedelisto (talkcontribs) please always ping! 17:55, 10 June 2020 (UTC)
Thanks so much! I really appreciate you getting into the trenches with me, especially with Russian-language sourcing. I'll double check the recent change. Inkian Jason (talk) 17:59, 10 June 2020 (UTC)

Introduction and infobox

@Psiĥedelisto: Thanks again for your help above. Overall, this article is much improved. I have another request, this time focused on the introduction and infobox. Same as before, I've used this draft page to illustrate proposed changes.

  1. Wheely Technologies Ltd is actually a subsidiary of Wheely Ltd. For the introduction and infobox, I propose changing the company's name accordingly.
  2. The "$110 million turnover" mentioned in the introduction and listed as revenue in the infobox is not correct; this was a mistake in the requests from Elena above. Per the sourcing, this figure refers to the amount of bookings but does not reflect the company's annual revenue/turnover. Since Wheely is a private company it doesn't report its revenue. In my draft, I've suggested clarifying in the introduction that the figure is for annualized gross bookings, and simply removing from the infobox.
  3. I've also proposed some small wording changes to clarify that Wheely's service can be booked on demand and in advance, and replacing "personal driver" with chauffeur driven (since the wikilink for personal driver links to chauffeur)
  4. I've not updated my draft with the wording that you had added to the introduction about recognition Wheely has received, but to be clear: I am not asking for that to be removed.

Happy to address any questions or concerns. Thanks again! Inkian Jason (talk) 17:45, 15 June 2020 (UTC)

@Inkian Jason: Hello! Nice to hear from you again. Can you maybe explain the corporate structure a bit to me, if possible? Which is the parent company? I assume the one in Russia; usually the one in a person's native country is the parent. Kommersant stated 100% ООО «Вили» владеет ООО «Вили Холдинг» (100% of OOO Wheely is owned by OOO Wheely Holdings). To comply with MOS:LEADLANG, and to match articles like PJSC Gazprom, Crypto AG, 1Malaysia Development Berhad, and so on, I believe we should call call it in the first sentence "Wheely OOO". Child companies in other countries may also be listed in lead or infobox as appropriate. The article may stay at its current name per MOS:COMMONNAME and precedents at Uber, GrabTaxi and Lyft. Psiĥedelisto (talkcontribs) please always ping! 18:38, 15 June 2020 (UTC)
@Psiĥedelisto: Thanks for your patience while I checked this with Wheely. They confirm that as they are headquartered in London it is the UK entity, Wheely Ltd, which is the parent company. In each country where they operate, they have one or multiple subsidiaries. In case it helps, if you use Google Translate on this List-Org link, it shows that OOO Wheely Holdings is owned by Wheely Ltd (under "Founders"). You can also see in the UK government Companies House listings that Wheely Technologies Limited (Companies House link) is a subsidiary of Wheely Ltd (formerly Wheely Holdings Ltd: Companies House link). I hope this helps, Inkian Jason (talk) 14:37, 16 June 2020 (UTC)
@Inkian Jason:   Done—I'm satisfied with those sources. Would you happen to know if the French subsidiary is different? I assume with Brexit it has to be, right? Psiĥedelisto (talkcontribs) please always ping! 01:58, 17 June 2020 (UTC)
Nevermind, found it   Psiĥedelisto (talkcontribs) please always ping! 09:21, 17 June 2020 (UTC)

@Psiĥedelisto: Thanks so much! A few last little questions, looking at the changes you've made to the introduction and the addition of the sharing economy navbox.

  1. In the introduction, would you consider adding "in advance" regarding booking? Here's my suggested wording from my draft: "Wheely Ltd, more commonly known as Wheely, is a multinational ride-hailing service which allows users to book chauffeur-driven journeys in a luxury vehicle on-demand and in advance."
  2. I've also suggested some additional categories for the article at the bottom of my draft, would you consider adding if appropriate?
  3. Finally, I had thought a lot and discussed with Wheely about adding the company to the sharing economy navbox; the issue that we ran into is that Wheely (and other included companies, like Bolt) doesn't quite fit and yet there's not another navbox that's more appropriate. It seems like there should be a navbox for app-driven services that are not strictly speaking "shared". I don't have a clear answer here as, like I mentioned, there's not a good alternative and similar companies are included in this navbox, but wanted to raise the point for your thoughts. Should Wheely be included? Inkian Jason (talk) 15:34, 17 June 2020 (UTC)
@Inkian Jason:   Done. I removed Wheely from the navbox.[2] I added your first sentence, and cited it to Milington 2020 after reading it to be sure your characterization of Wheely's product is accurate, which it is.[3][note 1] (Can never be too careful when dealing with COI editors, no matter how well-intentioned.  ) I did the category changes as well. Addition: [4]. Removal: [5]. Lastly, I restored the company's full name, including "Ltd.", to the lead, after confirming I was wrong and indeed most other articles, even about tech companies, do that.[6]
In future, if I'm still going to be your reviewer, I'd like it if you start keeping your draft (User:Inkian Jason/Wheely) exactly even with what's on the page plus what you want to add, so I can just copy your draft over and press "Review changes". So, no more collapsing sections, no more having some sections behind the status quo in the article that you don't want changed...such as the lead and infobox right now in your draft, which are behind, but you say I've not updated my draft with the wording that you had added to the introduction about recognition Wheely has received, but to be clear: I am not asking for that to be removed. This would make it much faster for me to quickly assess and either implement your edits or bring up problems I see. Thanks, Psiĥedelisto (talkcontribs) please always ping! 00:54, 19 June 2020 (UTC)

References

  1. ^ Tangent: apparently luxury vehicle is the accepted neutral nomenclature for cars produced by Mercedez-Benz among others. I know nothing about cars, but I consider this ingenuous marketing. Like putting "delicious" in the neutral name of a food or "awesome" in the neutral name of a television show. It makes all other cars seem inferior, even though when I lived in the Philippines I owned one of these little guys...it was luxury enough for me after the modifications I did. (Bed, computer, speakers, etc.)   Could have used some better suspension though!
Psiĥedelisto, thanks again for your help here. I will be sure to keep your requests in mind if I propose any updates in the future. Inkian Jason (talk) 14:52, 19 June 2020 (UTC)

@Psiĥedelisto: I have a question. You added a list of legal entities to the subsidiaries field in the infobox. The Uber article lists subsidiaries that are separate lines of business, not a list of legal entities like Uber BV, Uber France SAS, Uber London Ltd, etc. As the infobox guidelines themselves are not clear here (they say "primary legally incorporated subsidiaries" but "primary" isn't defined) and this isn't something I've come across before, I wanted to ask whether you think it's necessary to list the legal entities if they're not separate businesses? As I thought about it, some companies have dozens or even hundreds or legal entities. I'd appreciate your thoughts here, or removal of the legal entities if appropriate. Thanks again! Inkian Jason (talk) 16:05, 22 June 2020 (UTC)

@Inkian Jason: Sorry it took me so long to reply. I'd say it's context-sensitive, that's why we have that field in the infobox. For companies with an extreme number of legal entities, especially if reliable sources have done a lot of piercing of the corporate veil, it might be worth a whole article per WP:SIZESPLIT, e.g. Corporate structure of Wheely. (Let's hope such an article never becomes a topic of discussion to the point someone creates it!!) I don't know of an actual article like that, but if sources are there, we can write, is generally the rule. (WP:GNG; also WP:RGWWe can record the righting of great wrongs, but we can't ride the crest of the wave because we can only report that which is verifiable from reliable and secondary sources, giving appropriate weight to the balance of informed opinion: even if you're sure something is true, it must be verifiable before you can add it.) Since in this case there are so few, it's obviously okay. If there were hundreds, and reliable sources didn't seem to care about most of them and we could only source their existence to e.g. Companies House or the Unternehmensregister, I'd say: focus only on the top five to ten most important ones, put the rest in Wikidata. Hope that answers your query! Psiĥedelisto (talkcontribs) please always ping! 02:47, 15 July 2020 (UTC)

Poorly sourced text

@Psiĥedelisto: In an above request, I asked about removing the following poorly sourced text, but I think this may have been overlooked: "In 2017, companies Yota, Lukoil and Hilton Hotels & Resorts brought 6% of Wheely's annual income. The company has also partnered with Alfa-Bank and Citibank, providing free airport transfers for holders of some premium credit cards." The first sentence seems promotional and the piece was written by a Forbes contributor. The second sentence describes bank partnerships using the banks' official websites as inline citations. This also seems like unnecessary detail in a section describing the company's business model. If you agree the sourcing here does not meet Wikipedia's standards, can you remove the text from the article? Thanks, Inkian Jason (talk) 17:45, 15 June 2020 (UTC)

  Done Psiĥedelisto (talkcontribs) please always ping! 18:42, 15 June 2020 (UTC)
Thanks for your help here. I'll return to the section above soon. Inkian Jason (talk) 18:48, 15 June 2020 (UTC)

Redundant text

Hi again! While I'm waiting for feedback on the above request, I'd like to make another suggestion to remove redundant text.

In the Services section, I propose removing the following sentence: "The vehicle for hire services are available in seven Russian cities, including Moscow and St. Petersburg, as well as London and Paris." The service areas are already mentioned in the History section. Not to mention, this text requires regular updating as the company enters and leaves specific markets, so removal actually makes the article's content more evergreen.

I welcome editor review by Psiĥedelisto (sorry for not linking your username above!) or others. Thank you, Inkian Jason (talk) 13:32, 9 June 2022 (UTC)

  Not done — Added this text instead:

Wheely's three main cities are Moscow, London and Paris. Wheely's service was as of June 2022 available in these smaller Russian cities:[1]

Beginning in February 2021, Wheely began offering its service on an invitation-only basis in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.[2]
@Inkian Jason: Not done because Wikipedia is a work in progress, and it's useful information for users if Wheely used to be in a city but now isn't. That could be what they're on this page to find out. Even if it doesn't reflect well on the company's growth or what have you (five Russian cities is less than seven). Further, it's good practice on Wikipedia to write leads that summarize the article, WP:LEADFOLLOWSBODY. Psiĥedelisto (talkcontribs) please always ping! 08:54, 10 June 2022 (UTC)

References

  1. ^ "Города и классы" Goroda i klassy [Cities and vehicle classes]. Wheely (in Russian). Retrieved 2022-06-10.
  2. ^ Remmer, Natalia (2021-02-25). "Новый VIP-сервис такси придет в Дубай из России" Novyy̆ VIP-servis taksi pridet v Dubay̆ iz Rossii [New Russian VIP taxi service is coming to Dubai]. Russian Emirates (in Russian). Dubai: Электронное СМИ «Русские Эмираты» (Russian Emirates Publishing). Retrieved 2022-06-10.

Dubai; History section

@Psiĥedelisto: Thanks for reviewing this request as well. My next edit request was going to be about Dubai, so you've beat me to the punch.

However, my request was going to be to add mention of the Dubai market entry to the History section, which also mentions other market entries. Also, you've added "Beginning in February 2021, Wheely began offering its service on an invitation-only basis in Dubai, United Arab Emirates", but actually Wheely applied for an e-hailing license in Dubai in 2021, so I was going to request addition of the following:

Seeking to expand into the Middle East, Wheely applied for an e-hailing license in Dubai in 2021.[1]

References

  1. ^ Kolesnikova, Maria (23 February 2021). "Luxury Ride-Hailing App Pivots to Middle East as Lockdowns Bite". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 23 May 2022.

Perhaps now I should share what I have in mind for the History section, since this is related. I propose replacing the current History section with what I've drafted here, which offers a reworded overview of the company's early history and evolution (adding the founder's inspiration and removing the unnecessary mention of Oleg), per CNBC, as well as an update at the end re: Dubai, per Bloomberg News. I assume the English-language news source is more helpful at English Wikipedia than the currently used Russian source. Psiĥedelisto, would you be willing to review this History request as well?

Thank you! Inkian Jason (talk) 19:45, 10 June 2022 (UTC)

@Inkian Jason: Just as a quick note before responding to the rest (may not have time for a few days but this was more urgent), is this better regarding the repetition of word Russian? Psiĥedelisto (talkcontribs) please always ping! 22:56, 10 June 2022 (UTC)
@Psiĥedelisto: "Russian" before customers is not necessary either. The data is related to geography and has nothing to do with the citizenship or nationality of the user. I hope this helps, Inkian Jason (talk) 18:17, 11 June 2022 (UTC)
[7]? Psiĥedelisto (talkcontribs) please always ping! 08:14, 20 June 2022 (UTC)

Updates to Corporate affairs section

Hello again! I am back to submit a few edit requests on behalf of Wheely, as disclosed here previously. My last request was submitted two years ago and I have a few ideas about how to update and improve this Wikipedia article. I've saved an updated draft here for editor review, and this diff shows my proposed changes to the article. However, since this is a lot to review at once, I will be submitting a series of edit requests for easier implementation. I invite editors to please review and update appropriately on my behalf. To start, I'd like to address the Corporate affairs section, which currently says:

Current text
Corporate affairs

Wheely is based in London and has between 3,000 and 3,500 chauffeurs, as of April 2019.[1][2] The company received US$110 million in annualized gross bookings by February 2020.[3] Wheely's office in Mayfair had 12 employees, as of April 2019.[1] The company was previously based in Moscow.[4]

As of 2018, Chirkunov owned 59.6% of the shares in Wheely.[5]

Investments

Chirkunov initially invested US$2.5 million in the company, most of which came from friends and family.[6] Wheely won a US$25,000 grant from Start Fellows initiative, which was established by Pavel Durov and Yuri Milner.[7] Wheely also received a grant of 5,900,000  (US$94,150) from the Russian governmental non-profitable organization The Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises in Science and Technology.[5] Total investments in Wheely grew to US$13 million in 2018.[5][8] The company raised US$15 million in a Series B round led by the venture capital firm Concentric in 2019.[1][2] Wheely had raised US$28 million from investors, as of 2020.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Lanxon was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Dillet was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Browne was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Gothard, Peter (10 June 2013). "Russian app-based taxi startup Wheely takes aim at London's Addison Lee". Computing.
  5. ^ a b c "Лондон поднимут на Wheely" [Wheely to launch in London]. Kommersant (in Russian). Vol. 14. January 26, 2018. p. 12.
  6. ^ Николаева, Елена (April 23, 2019). Делай сегодня! Опыт 64 успешных российских стартапов. Litres. p. 431.
  7. ^ Nikolaeva, Elena (2013-01-17). "Такси online" [Taxis online]. Expert (in Russian). Retrieved 2020-06-09.
  8. ^ Seddon, Max (April 6, 2018). "Russian ride-hailing app returns to take on Uber in London". Financial Times.

I'd like to suggest adding a subsection about the company's privacy stance, which has been covered by journalistic sources. Additionally, I've replaced the number of employees in the Mayfair office (as of April 2019) with Wheely's total number of employees, which I think is much more relevant to readers. I've also removed the descriptor "the Russian governmental non-profitable organization", which unnecessarily lengthens a sentence which already links to the The Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises in Science and Technology, and noted that Concentric is a British firm. Here's my proposed updated text:

Proposed text
Corporate affairs

As of 2018, Chirkunov owned 59.6% of the shares in Wheely.[1] Wheely is based in London and has between 3,000 and 3,500 chauffeurs as of April 2019.[2][3] The company reached US$110 million in annualized gross bookings by February 2020.[4] Wheely has approximately 200 employees.[5]

Privacy stance

Wheely has a pro-privacy stance, and has refused to hand over requests for passenger or journey data by governments. In 2020, Moscow's Department of Transportation demanded that Wheely begin sharing real-time journey data from all the vehicles on its platform.[6] Wheely filed an official complaint with the UK's Information Commissioner's Office, as fulfilling the request would have violated Wheely's General Data Protection Regulation obligations.[7] Wheely was the only ride-hail company to not provide this data, leading to a temporary suspension of their Russian subsidiary.[8]

Investments

Chirkunov initially invested US$2.5 million in the company, most of which came from friends and family.[9] Wheely won a US$25,000 grant from Start Fellows initiative, which was established by Pavel Durov and Yuri Milner.[10] Wheely also received a grant of 5,900,000  (US$94,150) from The Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises in Science and Technology.[1] Total investments in Wheely grew to US$13 million in 2018.[1][11] The company then raised US$15 million in a Series B round led by the British venture capital firm Concentric in 2019.[2][3] Wheely has raised US$28 million from investors as of 2020.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Лондон поднимут на Wheely" [Wheely to launch in London]. Kommersant (in Russian). Vol. 14. January 26, 2018. p. 12.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Lanxon was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Dillet was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Browne was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Kolesnikova, Maria (24 February 2021). "Luxury Ride-Hailing App Pivots to Middle East as Lockdowns Bite". BloombergQuint. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  6. ^ Tsydenova, Nadezhda; Stolyarov, Gleb (1 June 2020). "Ride-hailing service Wheely risks Moscow ban in dispute over geolocation data". Reuters. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  7. ^ Goodley, Simon (8 September 2020). "Wheely ride-hailing app writes to UK privacy watchdog over Moscow data demands". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  8. ^ "Russian court bans ride-hailing service Wheely in Moscow for three months". Reuters. 7 August 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  9. ^ Николаева, Елена (April 23, 2019). Делай сегодня! Опыт 64 успешных российских стартапов. Litres. p. 431.
  10. ^ Nikolaeva, Elena (2013-01-17). "Такси online" [Taxis online]. Expert (in Russian). Retrieved 2020-06-09.
  11. ^ Seddon, Max (April 6, 2018). "Russian ride-hailing app returns to take on Uber in London". Financial Times.

If these changes seem reasonable, here's a copy of the markup for taking the content live:

Proposed markup

== Corporate affairs ==
As of 2018, Chirkunov owned 59.6% of the shares in Wheely.<ref name="Kommersant">{{cite news |title=Лондон поднимут на Wheely| trans-title=Wheely to launch in London|volume=14 |page=12| work=[[Kommersant]]| url=https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/3529353| date=January 26, 2018 |language=ru}}</ref> Wheely is based in London and has between 3,000 and 3,500 chauffeurs as of April 2019.<ref name="Lanxon"/><ref name="Dillet"/> The company reached {{USD}}110 million in annualized gross bookings by February 2020.<ref name="Browne"/> Wheely has approximately 200 employees.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kolesnikova |first1=Maria |title=Luxury Ride-Hailing App Pivots to Middle East as Lockdowns Bite |url=https://www.bloombergquint.com/onweb/luxury-ride-hailing-app-pivots-to-middle-east-as-lockdowns-bite |access-date=2 May 2022 |work=[[BloombergQuint]] |date=24 February 2021}}</ref>

=== Privacy stance ===
Wheely has a pro-privacy stance, and has refused to hand over requests for passenger or journey data by governments. In 2020, Moscow's Department of Transportation demanded that Wheely begin sharing real-time journey data from all the vehicles on its platform.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Tsydenova |first1=Nadezhda |last2=Stolyarov |first2=Gleb |title=Ride-hailing service Wheely risks Moscow ban in dispute over geolocation data |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-russia-wheely-moscow-idUKKBN23839X |access-date=23 May 2022 |publisher=Reuters |date=1 June 2020}}</ref> Wheely filed an official complaint with the UK's Information Commissioner's Office, as fulfilling the request would have violated Wheely's [[General Data Protection Regulation]] obligations.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Goodley |first1=Simon |title=Wheely ride-hailing app writes to UK privacy watchdog over Moscow data demands |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/sep/08/wheely-ride-hailing-app-writes-to-uk-privacy-watchdog-over-moscow-data-demands |access-date=23 May 2022 |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=8 September 2020}}</ref> Wheely was the only ride-hail company to not provide this data, leading to a temporary suspension of their Russian subsidiary.<ref>{{cite news |title=Russian court bans ride-hailing service Wheely in Moscow for three months |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/russia-wheely-moscow-idINKCN2532B4 |access-date=23 May 2022 |publisher=Reuters |date=7 August 2020}}</ref>

=== Investments ===
Chirkunov initially invested {{USD}}2.5 million in the company, most of which came from friends and family.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Николаева |first1=Елена|title=Делай сегодня! Опыт 64 успешных российских стартапов| date=April 23, 2019|publisher=Litres|page=431}}</ref> Wheely won a {{USD}}25,000 grant from Start Fellows initiative, which was established by [[Pavel Durov]] and [[Yuri Milner]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Nikolaeva|first=Elena |date=2013-01-17|title=Такси online|trans-title=Taxis online| url=https://expert.ru/2013/01/17/taksi/|access-date=2020-06-09| work=[[Expert (magazine)|Expert]]|language=ru}}</ref> Wheely also received a grant of {{Currency|5.9 million|RUB}} ({{USD}}{{Round|{{ToUSD|5900000|Russia|year=2018}}|-1}}) from [[:ru:Фонд содействия развитию малых форм предприятий в научно-технической сфере|The Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises in Science and Technology]].<ref name="Kommersant" /> Total investments in Wheely grew to {{USD}}13 million in 2018.<ref name="Kommersant" /><ref name="ft">{{cite web|last=Seddon|first=Max | title=Russian ride-hailing app returns to take on Uber in London |url=https://www.ft.com/content/22d3bd24-3414-11e8-ae84-494103e73f7f | work=[[Financial Times]] |date=April 6, 2018}}</ref> The company then raised {{USD}}15 million in a Series B round led by the British venture capital firm Concentric in 2019.<ref name="Lanxon" /><ref name="Dillet" /> Wheely has raised {{USD}}28 million from investors as of 2020.<ref name="Browne" />

Again, you can scroll down here to see proposed changes to this section within the draft overall. I'm hoping Psiĥedelisto and others can review and update the article for me. I'm happy to address any concerns. Thanks for your consideration, Inkian Jason (talk) 14:58, 2 June 2022 (UTC)

@Inkian Jason:   Done with some slight changes. I agree that the privacy information is unique enough for inclusion, I did my own research as usual.   Psiĥedelisto (talkcontribs) please always ping! 09:20, 10 June 2022 (UTC)

@Psiĥedelisto Thank you for reviewing this request! I appreciate your assistance.

Can I clarify a few things about the text in the Privacy section? The second paragraph currently says:

"Wheely was the only Russian ride-hail company to not provide this data about Russian customers, which led to a three month suspension of their Russian subsidiary.[1] Wheely's website offers a page "debunking" official arguments for why the data should have been handed over.[2]"

References

  1. ^ Tsydenova, Nadezhda; Marrow, Alexander (7 August 2020). Heinrich, Mark (ed.). "Russian court bans ride-hailing service Wheely in Moscow for three months". Reuters. Thomson Reuters. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  2. ^ Chirkunov, Anton (2020-08-06). "Debunking MDOT's anti-privacy argument". Wheely. Retrieved 2022-06-10.
  • Wheely is not a Russian company. The business is based in London, per the inline citation. Also, the data was about Moscow journeys, regardless of the citizenship or nationality of the customers. This is why I had proposed the text, "Wheely was the only ride-hail company to not provide this data, leading to a temporary suspension of their Russian subsidiary."
  • For the citation at the end of the second sentence, I believe Anton Chirkunov should be removed as the author since there's no byline.

Do you mind taking another look at the text for me? Thanks again! Inkian Jason (talk) 19:02, 10 June 2022 (UTC)

@Psiĥedelisto: Thanks for updating the text. Are you willing to remove Anton's name from Reference #37 since the page has no byline? Also, if I'm understanding correctly you'll be reviewing the History section discussed in the section below, but please let me know if you'd prefer I submit a separate edit request to keep things organized. Thanks again for your help here! Inkian Jason (talk) 12:54, 22 June 2022 (UTC)
@Inkian Jason: Sorry for forgetting about this! The article states that it was translated from text Anton wrote? That's why I put his name. Is that not accurate or am I misunderstanding? Psiĥedelisto (talkcontribs) please always ping! 17:13, 5 July 2022 (UTC)
@Psiĥedelisto The page is a "companion piece" published by the company, but not a translation of Anton's text. Certainly Wheely should be noted as the publisher, but Anton's name should not be included if there's no byline. Inkian Jason (talk) 14:34, 6 July 2022 (UTC)
Done, removed, sorry, I really did not understand what that term was meant to mean. Psiĥedelisto (talkcontribs) please always ping! 23:13, 8 July 2022 (UTC)
@Psiĥedelisto: Thanks for updating the citation! Do you have a moment to review the Dubai/History request below? Inkian Jason (talk) 13:31, 11 July 2022 (UTC)
@Inkian Jason: I'm sorry, I don't know when I'll get to the more complex requests in a reasonable timeframe, so it's reasonable for you to have reopened the {{Request edit}} template. You also have my permission to move my comment out of that section which wasn't even about Dubai.   Psiĥedelisto (talkcontribs) please always ping! 15:43, 12 July 2022 (UTC)
Ok, thanks for confirming. Since the edit requests have overlapped a bit, I will do some tidying below and create a new separate edit request for others to review. Thanks again for your help here! Inkian Jason (talk) 17:30, 12 July 2022 (UTC)

Business model

Continuing my series of edit requests, I'd like to suggest a few (small) changes to the Business model section on behalf of Wheely. I propose replacing the section's current text with what I've drafted here, which uses an additional citation to add mention of the company's Academy and first aid training for chauffeurs. Additionally, I've trimmed the seemingly redundant "professional chauffeurs and chauffeur companies" and clarified that Wheely uses select luxury vehicles. (This diff of proposed changes between the current article and my proposed replacement shows specific changes in more detail, if helpful for reviewing.)

I don't edit articles directly given my COI, so I'm hoping others can review and update and the article on my behalf.

As always, happy to address concerns. Thanks! Inkian Jason (talk) 18:59, 12 July 2022 (UTC)

  Done. InfiniteNexus (talk) 18:19, 20 August 2022 (UTC)

Subsidiaries

On behalf of Wheely, I'd like to flag an issue with the subsidiaries listed in the infobox. First and foremost, OOO Wheely Holdings is defunct and should be removed. However, I'd actually suggest removing all three entries (Wheely Technologies Ltd., OOO Wheely Holdings, Wheely France SASU) because these are legal entities but not separate lines of business. Uber's infobox lists notable lines of business, not legal entities like like Uber BV, Uber France SAS, Uber London Ltd, etc. Can someone please update the infobox on my behalf? Inkian Jason (talk) 15:49, 18 July 2022 (UTC)

  Done. InfiniteNexus (talk) 18:24, 20 August 2022 (UTC)

Introduction

While I'm still waiting on multiple reviews above, I'd like to go ahead and submit a final (at least for now) request for editor consideration.

I'd like to flag a few issues with the current introduction:

  • The article suggests the company has offices in London and only operates in Paris and Russia, when this is not entirely accurate.
  • The article says, "Wheely was founded in 2010 by Russian born Anton Chirkunov, Zurich educated and businessman formerly based in Amsterdam." This sentence mentions three different locations, none of which have anything to do with Wheely as a company. This seems like unnecessary detail, especially since the article body does not mention where he was born or educated, or that he was based in Amsterdam (which is false).
  • The introduction mentions a list placement of 835th, which does not seem worthy of inclusion, per Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Lead section.

I've provided alternative text here for editor consideration. This introduction clarifies where the company is headquartered vs. where the company operates. Additionally, I've removed the unnecessary details about Anton Chirkunov, trimmed the ranking of 835, and made a few other minor changes to improve flow. This diff shows proposed changes, compared to the current article, if that's helpful. I'm not editing the entry directly because of my conflict of interest, so I'm hoping someone else can review and copy over the markup for me. Thanks! Inkian Jason (talk) 17:44, 25 July 2022 (UTC)

  Done. InfiniteNexus (talk) 18:32, 20 August 2022 (UTC)

History

With permission from Psiĥedelisto above to submit a new edit request, I would like to share what I have in mind for the History section. I propose replacing the current section with what I've drafted here, which offers a reworded overview of the company's early history and evolution (adding the founder's inspiration and removing the unnecessary mention of Oleg), per CNBC, as well as an update at the end re: Dubai, per Bloomberg News. I assume the English-language news source is more helpful at English Wikipedia than the currently used Russian source. I'd also like to note, the proposed History section corrects an inaccurate statement about service in Dubai. Currently, the article says, "Beginning in February 2021, Wheely began offering its service on an invitation-only basis in Dubai, United Arab Emirates", but actually Wheely applied for an e-hailing license in Dubai in 2021. Can someone please review and update appropriately?

I'm happy to answer questions or address concerns here. Thanks! Inkian Jason (talk) 17:37, 12 July 2022 (UTC)

@Inkian Jason: Your revamped version looks good, but I notice that you've removed the sentences The company debuted a prototype taxi aggregator service in London in 2012. Chirkunov signed contracts with private hire companies to provide drivers and Toyota Prius vehicles.[1][2] However, Wheely struggled to compete with other private hire taxi and courier companies, forcing Chirkunov to change his business model.[3][4][5] Is there a reason for this? InfiniteNexus (talk) 18:13, 20 August 2022 (UTC)

References

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Browne was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Laughlin was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Millington was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Seddon, Max (6 April 2018). "Russian ride-hailing app returns to take on Uber in London". Financial Times. Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  5. ^ Care, Scott (25 November 2019). "Alternatives to Uber: The best ride-hailing apps for Uber deserters". TechWorld. International Data Group. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
Note: Please ping me when you reply, I am not watching this page. InfiniteNexus (talk) 05:13, 21 August 2022 (UTC)
@InfiniteNexus: Thanks for your help. I was simply trying to make the text more focused on the current business model than a former one. However, if you believe these specific claims are worth keeping or folding into the proposed text, I certainly will not object. Thanks again for updating the article on my behalf and please let me know if you have any other questions. Inkian Jason (talk) 15:13, 1 September 2022 (UTC)
@Inkian Jason: Unless there is a good reason to do so, such as WP:NPOV or WP:UNDUE concerns, sourced statements should usually not be removed. I don't think these two particular sentences clash with WP:BALASP, so I'll keep it in the article. I'll go ahead and implement the rest of your edit request. InfiniteNexus (talk) 23:57, 2 September 2022 (UTC)
  Done. InfiniteNexus (talk) 23:59, 2 September 2022 (UTC)

Services

On behalf of Wheely, I'd like to submit another request, this time for the "Services" section.

I propose removing the following content (third and fourth paragraphs):

Wheely's three main cities are Moscow, London and Paris.[1][2] Wheely's service was as of June 2022 available in these smaller Russian cities:[3] Beginning in February 2021, Wheely began offering its service on an invitation-only basis in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.[4]

References

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Browne was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Lanxon was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Города и классы" Goroda i klassy [Cities and vehicle classes]. Wheely (in Russian). Retrieved 2022-06-10.
  4. ^ Remmer, Natalia (2021-02-25). "Новый VIP-сервис такси придет в Дубай из России" Novyy̆ VIP-servis taksi pridet v Dubay̆ iz Rossii [New Russian VIP taxi service is coming to Dubai]. Russian Emirates (in Russian). Dubai: Электронное СМИ «Русские Эмираты» (Russian Emirates Publishing). Retrieved 2022-06-10.

Multiple reasons for removal:

  • This text is not accurate. Wheely operates in London, Paris, Moscow, and St. Petersburg, as noted in the introduction and Wheely's website.
  • The citation for the "smaller Russian cities" is Wheely's website, which does not mention these cities or verify the claim.
  • Saint Petersburg is not a "smaller Russian city" as the text suggests.
  • Again, the text is not accurate. In Dubai, Wheely applied for a license, but did not begin offering service then.
  • The "History" section already says, "Seeking to expand into the Middle East, Wheely applied for an e-hailing license in Dubai in 2021."

Removing this text makes the article more accurate and up to date. @InfiniteNexus: I'd like to put this request on your radar given your willingness to assist and since you reviewed the "History" section above. Thank you! Inkian Jason (talk) 14:56, 3 October 2022 (UTC)

  Done I've reviewed the text, and I believe you're right. Removed. InfiniteNexus (talk) 04:37, 29 October 2022 (UTC)

On behalf of Wheely, I would like to submit a request to replace the company's old logo in the infobox with the new logo, which I've uploaded at File:Wheely logo.png.

I prefer not to edit in the main space because of my conflict of interest. Will another editor please review this request and update the article on my behalf? Thanks in advance.

(@InfiniteNexus: I am putting this request on your radar since you've helped previously.)

Inkian Jason (talk) 15:51, 9 June 2023 (UTC)

  Done Fairly straightforward request. InfiniteNexus (talk) 18:11, 10 June 2023 (UTC)