By Inti Landauro

MADRID (Reuters). Despite being one of Spain’s most popular ‘unicorns’, Cabify is at risk of losing ground to rivals like Uber (NYSE.:) and Bolt (NYSE.:) in Madrid. This could be due to a dispute over exclusiveness with a company who employs more than 1,100 of its drivers.

Felix Ruiz (entrepreneur and co-founder) of Auro, a private company which holds the cars, licences, and drivers told Reuters that Auro has decided to move them to Uber or Bolt starting January 20.

Auro estimates that the Spanish firm could be No.2 on its own turf. Uber and Cabify share about equal Madrid market share.

Uber and Cabify refused to comment on the market shares they hold.

Cabify claimed Monday that Auro’s fleet was required to continue working with the app because of a June arbitration court decision. Ruiz however acknowledged that Cabify won the arbitration and that Cabify would be defending its decision before the courts.

Ruiz doubted that they could reach an agreement.

He said that “we are not aligned” and added that Uber’s competitor Cabify was “more efficient because its algorithm allows higher earnings”, while Bolt had the advantage of charging less to increase market share.

Auro’s shipment pool, which includes 2,500 riders, is currently working with Uber Eats as well as other retailers.

Cabify’s first operation was in Madrid 10 years ago. Around 8,000 cars are licensed to ride-hailing service. The competition between these apps is intense as they have begun expanding into other areas such as scooters, bikes, grocery delivery, and even bike rentals.

Cabify has been considering going public. However, it has not yet announced any plan to do so. Cabify had $516m in global revenue for 2021 and more than 5.4 million users.

The company employs 230,000 drivers in its European and Latin American markets. According to recent company presentations, it has 441 employees in Spain.