TLabs focus on startups featuring TaxiPal from Estonia.
Who and what are you (including personnel and backgrounds)?
TaxiPal is a spin-off project from T+1 Solutions, an Estonian R&D and technology solution provider founded by Raoul Järvis. In the summer of 2009 three other key people were brought in: Gunnar Läll, Aap Hirvesoo and Priit Penjam. They all have a long-time executive and developer experience in IT from various fields (banking, R&D, fund management, mobile services, web portals, etc.)
In addition to them there are 4 developers working on the project.
What financial support did you have to launch the business?
Our startup is self-financed. It was the goal from the very beginning to reach launch-readiness and first paying clients with only our own funding. A significant role have also the NAVTEQ map licenses that were received as part of the Grand Prize at NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge that T+1 Solutions won last year.
What problem are you trying to solve?
TaxiPal helps the user to answer one of life’s frequently asked question, such as “Where can I get a taxi?” It’s easy to answer when you are at home, but what if you are travelling and need a taxi in another city? Or even if you happen to know the taxi phone number it might be difficult to tell the dispatcher where you are because of the language barriers.
TaxiPal’s Local Taxis service provides location aware list of local taxi companies, their tariffs, ratings and supported payment methods. And with TaxiPal’s Direct Order feature the user can order a local taxi without making a phone call.
It will also help to avoid illegal taxis and over-charging by dishonest drivers.
Describe the business, core products and services?
TaxiPal is actually a full end-to-end solution for the taxi industry, covering everything from the free end-user mobile application to the cost-effective fleet management solution for the taxi company. TaxiPal can also be integrated with taxi companies’ existing fleet management systems, meaning that their existing investment does not need to be replaced. TaxiPal adds a new sales channel to companies’ existing processes, brings them more customers and provides direct feedback from end-users about service quality. Our fleet management solution provides a cost-effective means for taxi companies to optimize their fleet operations.
Who are your key customers and users at launch?
B2C: Our end-users are people who at least occasionally use taxi services either at home town or when travelling. For example, business travellers are one of our target end-user groups.
B2B: Any taxi company, big or small, that would be interested in adding a new sales channel, being more visible and accessible to new customers, mainly travellers. Also companies who would like to use GPS technology to better manage their fleet and optimize their business processes.
Did you have customers validate your idea before investors?
TaxiPal (initially bearing a project name Taxi4me) won the prestigious NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge® 2009 Grand Prize for the Americas region and also the overall global title Global LBS Challenge CHAMPION 2009. Since the winner selection was done by a very distinguished panel of judges comprised of executives from leading wireless and technology companies, the winning gave quite a strong validation of our idea.
Global LBS Challenge Grand Prize: (http://news.prnewswire.com/ViewContent.aspx?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/04-02-2009/0005000268&EDATE=)
NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge CHAMPION:
(http://www.nn4d.com/site/global/market/lbs_challenge/about/global_champion/p_global_champion.jsp)
TaxiPal also won the Mobile Premier Award in Innovation from the MobileMonday community in Barcelona during Mobile World Congress 2010 in February (http://www.mobilepremierawards.com/).
What is the business AND revenue model, strategy for profitability?
The service is free for the end users. There is a fee for taxi companies for being part of our network; the fee depends on the service package (feature-set) they use. We are also able to show location and time specific advertising to our end users.
SWOT analysis – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats?
In-depth analysis and strategy is available to interested investors.
Who advised you your idea isn't going to be successful and why didn't you listen to them?
Nobody, even the biggest pessimists about our idea, have disagreed with us after seeing our presentation and explanation of the processes. It’s a truly win-win service for everybody.
What is your success metric 12 months from now?
100 000 end-users and the Direct Order feature being available in all bigger European cities.
Who and what are you (including personnel and backgrounds)?TaxiPal is a spin-off project from T+1 Solutions, an Estonian R&D and technology solution provider founded by Raoul Järvis. In the summer of 2009 three other key people were brought in: Gunnar Läll, Aap Hirvesoo and Priit Penjam. They all have a long-time executive and developer experience in IT from various fields (banking, R&D, fund management, mobile services, web portals, etc.)
In addition to them there are four developers working on the project.
What financial support did you have to launch the business?
Our startup is self-financed. It was the goal from the very beginning to reach launch-readiness and first paying clients with only our own funding. A significant role have also the NAVTEQ map licenses that were received as part of the Grand Prize at NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge that T+1 Solutions won last year.
What problem are you trying to solve?
TaxiPal helps the user to answer one of life’s frequently asked question, such as “Where can I get a taxi?” It’s easy to answer when you are at home, but what if you are travelling and need a taxi in another city? Or even if you happen to know the taxi phone number it might be difficult to tell the dispatcher where you are because of the language barriers.
TaxiPal’s Local Taxis service provides location aware list of local taxi companies, their tariffs, ratings and supported payment methods. And with TaxiPal’s Direct Order feature the user can order a local taxi without making a phone call.
It will also help to avoid illegal taxis and over-charging by dishonest drivers.
Describe the business, core products and services?
TaxiPal is actually a full end-to-end solution for the taxi industry, covering everything from the free end-user mobile application to the cost-effective fleet management solution for the taxi company. TaxiPal can also be integrated with taxi companies’ existing fleet management systems, meaning that their existing investment does not need to be replaced. TaxiPal adds a new sales channel to companies’ existing processes, brings them more customers and provides direct feedback from end-users about service quality. Our fleet management solution provides a cost-effective means for taxi companies to optimize their fleet operations.
Who are your key customers and users at launch?
- B2C: Our end-users are people who at least occasionally use taxi services either at home town or when travelling. For example, business travellers are one of our target end-user groups.
- B2B: Any taxi company, big or small, that would be interested in adding a new sales channel, being more visible and accessible to new customers, mainly travellers. Also companies who would like to use GPS technology to better manage their fleet and optimize their business processes.
Did you have customers validate your idea before investors?TaxiPal (initially bearing a project name Taxi4me) won the prestigious NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge® 2009 Grand Prize for the Americas region and also the overall global title Global LBS Challenge CHAMPION 2009. Since the winner selection was done by a very distinguished panel of judges comprised of executives from leading wireless and technology companies, the winning gave quite a strong validation of our idea.
What is the business AND revenue model, strategy for profitability?The service is free for the end users. There is a fee for taxi companies for being part of our network; the fee depends on the service package (feature-set) they use. We are also able to show location and time specific advertising to our end users.
SWOT analysis – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats?
In-depth analysis and strategy is available to interested investors.
Who advised you your idea isn't going to be successful and why didn't you listen to them?
Nobody, even the biggest pessimists about our idea, have disagreed with us after seeing our presentation and explanation of the processes. It’s a truly win-win service for everybody.
What is your success metric 12 months from now?
100 000 end-users and the Direct Order feature being available in all bigger European cities.
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