Pioneers of the Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) concept, the Finnish company MaaS Global, has completed its latest funding round, raising 14.2m (US$16.8m), which will aid the company’s mission of building the world’s first mobility ecosystem.
As part of the recent funding round, the existing shareholders Transdev, Karsan Otomotiv Sanayii Ticaret AS and Veho Oy Ab increased their investments in MaaS Global.
In June, Toyota Financial Services and Aioi Nissay Dowa Insurance Company were announced as the first new major investors. The company’s latest investors include the Japanese automotive technology giant Denso Corporation, and the Turkish technology services company Swiftcom.
MaaS Global is the developer of the Whim next-generation mobility app, which currently operates in Finland’s Helsinki region, and is being launched this year in the UK’s West Midlands area, and the Amsterdam region of the Netherlands.
MaaS Global wants to globally revolutionize the way people move. The Whim app is the world’s first mobility service that allows users to book and pay for all transport services in one app and for a monthly fee.
MaaS Global aspires to improve the level of service in the transport sector by combining all public and private transport services, from brand-new cars, to taxis, hire cars, rideshare, trains, buses and city bikes.
The Whim mobility service covers everything from journey planning and routes, to tickets and payments. Due to this exceptionally successful latest funding round, MaaS Global hopes it can take mobility services to international markets.
Originator of the MaaS concept and MaaS Global’s founder and CEO, Sampo Hietanen, has a vision of seamless mobility in and between cities. “In the future, you will be able to move anywhere, at any time and by any mode of transport without needing to own a vehicle,” Hietanen explained.
“Our goal is to build a global roaming system for transport which people can use to travel from, say, Helsinki to Brussels, using one app. Strategic investments ensure that we are among the first in this mobility revolution.”
Sadahiro Usui, president and CEO of Denso Europe, said, “We are very pleased to partner with MaaS Global to jointly develop the emerging mobility service market and ecosystem that revolutionize the way people access to all modes of transportation, and which also contributes to our core mission to realize a future sustainable automotive society.”
