A stealthy new Boston ride-hailing company has quietly launched a competitor to Uber and Lyft in the Hub, hoping to take on the billion-dollar behemoths by promising cheaper fares for riders and more money for drivers.

Fasten — which began operating last month — works exactly like UberX and Lyft. Using an app, riders request a ride and drivers working their own hours in their own cars pick up the passengers.

The difference, the company says, is in the details. Instead of taking 20 percent from the drivers for each ride, Fasten takes $1. That means drivers make more money, the company said.

“We’re the first company that offers a real alternative,” said Kirill Evdakov, chief executive of Fasten. “We’re focusing on making this more affordable for riders and more profitable for drivers at the same time.”

Fasten also forgoes surge pricing, instead allowing riders to “boost” their own fare if a driver doesn’t accept a ride quickly enough. To do that, the company said, they aren’t taking as much in profit as competitors from each ride. That means Fasten is counting on lots of rides.

“The only way this works is you squeeze in the middle as a company,” said Vlad Christoff, chief operating officer. “What we want is rides. The only way to do this is make it more affordable for your riders.”

Fasten was founded by a group of Russian nationals — and Christoff — who came to Boston to launch the company.

“We chose Boston as a first market for this company in the United States because we love Boston. A lot of students, bad weather — it feeds to ridesharing like nowhere else,” said Roman Levitskiy, another co-founder.

Fasten has nine employees in Boston, and another 80 or so in Russia, working on app devleopment and design.

The company has plenty of work to do to catch up to its competition. Uber says its riders take more than 1 million rides in Massachusetts every month, and Lyft has plastered billboards advertising its service all over Boston — including on South Station, right across the street from Fasten’s office.

“People will still love Uber, people will still love Lyft, but there is room for us as well,” Evdakov said. “It’s not a zero-sum game, it’s not a winner-takes-all game.”

Both Uber and Lyft have raised billions of dollars in venture capital. Fasten, meanwhile, is backed by a $9 million investment from its chairman and co-founder, and has no outside investors yet.

The company has been recruiting drivers, including by requesting Uber rides and then pitching drivers on the benefits of Fasten.

One driver, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Jonel, said he now drives for Uber, Lyft and Fasten. He said he has made more money with Fasten.

“If another company comes and doesn’t take 20 percent, every driver will go to them,” Jonel said.

Still, Fasten has a ways to go.

“Uber has the biggest clientele — I know I’m going to make more money,” Jonel said.

While Uber dominates the market, public relations mistakes have opened a door for competition, Christoff said.

“We want to capitalize on their mistakes,” Christoff said. “There’s so many missteps in their company perception, and it certainly is great for us, no matter how you look at it.”