Public-Purpose Technology Intelligence
Summary
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- Founded in 2007
- Total Funding: estimated at almost £21 million
- Latest Funding: Series B, figure not disclosed but estimated at almost £10 million
- Lead investors: Sumitomo Corporation, Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance, Octopus, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
- Office: Vilnius, London, Berlin, Paris
- FTEs: 51-100
- Key clients/partners: city of Berlin, city of Munich, Swiss state; Google, Apple, Lyft, Gojek.
- Key execs: Martynas Gudonavičius, CEO and Co-Founder, BA Business Administration from the Kaunas University of Technology; Dr. Jurgis Pasukonis, Chief Scientist & Co-Founder; Mantas Vizbaras, COO & Co-founder, previously at Traceworks; Algimantas Krasauskas, Co-Founder.
Profile
Transport remains one of the biggest contributors to total greenhouse gas emissions, and private transport, like cars, are a large share of this. Yet public transport, across much of the world, is uncoordinated, poorly-funded, and confusing to travellers.
Trafi’s answer is an app that brings together data on all available public and private transport routes, by any mode of transport, and maps out a journey for the user, thereby providing an alternative to the use of private cars. It encourages cities to retain control over their transport coordination rather than hand it over to a private operator, on grounds that cities are more likely to be fair, independent arbitrators.
It is not the only Mobility as a Service (MaaS) app on the scene, but unlike some of its competitors it has discovered a sound business model in direct cooperation with cities. Other MaaS apps, which mostly operate independently of city administrations, have struggled to make revenue out of their services. Trafi’s apps are developed in partnership with municipal administrations. The range of each app is limited to a particular city or, more recently, country: the app Yumuv, released in August, covers the whole of Switzerland. Although each app uses the same platform, they do not currently share data. Additionally, it has created its own data management platform, which it updates continuously and makes available to third parties. They have worked with Google Maps and Gojek.
Plans
- Expanding to new cities in western Europe and Latin America
- Experimenting with a “roaming” model in which a Trafi MaaS app designed for one city could be used in any other city that is covered by a Trafi MaaS app.
Who Should Speak To This Company
Public transport authorities, public transport operators
Company In Action
Jelbi is Trafi’s bespoke MaaS app for the city of Berlin. It lists 8 different forms of transport, connecting 27,000 vehicles, which include all public transport services and on-demand providers like Next Bike, Tier and Voi kickscooters, Berlin taxi and Miles. Its interface mixes elements of a rideshare app and a conventional MaaS app: the user can enter a destination and it will calculate a route, with prices and ETA, or its its homepage can be used to: find the nearest scooter, shared car, or bike; get to a nearby train or tram station; or summon a taxi or a Berlkönig, Berlin’s unique six-person rideshare. It is available in a number of languages.
StateUp View
Jelbi has been very popular in Berlin since it was first piloted in 2019. It boasts considerable environmental benefits: by offering shared cycling on an equal footing with fossil fuel-powered transport it hopes to increase the use of these zero-emission alternatives. Trafi has also demonstrated that it is capable of expanding into the Global South: it has solved the problem of including informal, community-run private transport, like the colectivos in certain Latin American cities, in its app, by mapping out networks and usual stopping points.
It has two major advantages over many other MaaS apps. The first is its business model: MaaS apps have proven notoriously difficult to monetise effectively. By negotiating contracts directly with state governments, Trafi may be ensuring itself a stable income stream. The second is that since the app belongs to the city authority, it is possible to purchase tickets and make payments directly through the app. Trafi faces competition from some rideshare apps, which are also pitching to coordinate public transport systems, but will likely benefit from its clean reputation compared with growing scepticism of the rideshare business model.
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