July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

While ride-sharing startups are changing the cab industry from the outside, Flywheel is taking it on from within.

Formerly known as Cabulous, Flywheel released major updates to its application today that provides existing taxis and fleets with e-hailing technology.

Flywheel 4.0 for iOS has a new EasyPay feature. Riders use it to pay from their smartphone rather than paying with cash or a credit card. The company also added rating drivers, and they have a good incentive to earn high ratings: more fares. New Foursquare integration also means you can call a cab to a specific location without knowing the street address.

These new capabilities give regular cabs the same benefits and conveniences as e-hailing and ride-sharing services like Uber, Hailo, SideCar, and Lyft. These companies all offer smartphone apps for calling cabs to your location (and track the cars’ progress) as well as a rating system that ensure quality and seamless digital payments. Consumers have responded well to this approach, and despite legal battles, these startups are continuing their expansion. Flywheel’s approach is to trick out traditional taxi cabs with these rider-friendly features so they can keep their business while also increasing efficiency and cutting down on costs.

“Most city dwellers want to get fast, reliable, and safe rides to wherever they are going,” said CEO Steve Humphreys in an interview with VentureBeat. “Ninety-nine percent of all paid-rides in the U.S. still go through taxis, but they can be difficult from a reliability and easy-of-payment standpoint. Taxis exist, in some form, in virtually every city in the world. Our vision is to create a more consistently reliable, convenient, and cost-effective paid-ride experience anywhere. We believe the technical and consumer improvements engendered by the Flywheel app are critical to urban progress.”

Flywheel is essentially trying to move an old, stagnant, cash-based business online and adapt it to a mobile world that improves operations for taxis and the experience for consumers.

“Paid transportation is going through major, tectonic shifts,” Humphreys said. “External disruptors like Uber are forcing change at every level by cutting out much of the infrastructure that has been built up over the past two centuries. Flywheel is leveraging technology to help taxi fleets and drivers ward off the threat by these ride-sharing companies and, more specifically, non-trained and regulated, community drivers.

Transportation startups (like the ones mentioned above) present a significant threat to traditional taxi companies (and the regulators that oversee them). They continue to raise money, enter new markets, and hire drivers, and they are gaining increasingly large shares of the market. Humphreys said that rivals are trying to re-create the entire taxi infrastructure one car, one driver at a time, whereas Flywheel is giving existing fleets and drivers tools to remain competitive.

Flywheel has over 2,500 regulated taxi cabs in its fleet and revenues have gone up fivefold since the beginning of 2013. The company also has list of dozens of fleets around the country waiting to join.

It was founded in 2010 as Cabulous and rebranded as Flywheel in December. It is backed by $8 million from Shasta Ventures, Rockport Capital, Sandhill Angels, and Band of Angels.

Image credit: Flywheel 

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

The car-sharing space is beginning to resemble a NASCAR race, with a multiple contestants putting the pedal to the floor in an effort to break ahead. Today, car-sharing startup RelayRides announced that it has acquired competitor Wheelz to accelerate its growth.

RelayRides is a peer-to-peer car sharing marketplace where people can offer their cars for daily or weekly rentals. Wheelz adopted a similar model as well as proprietary DriveBox technology that facilitates keyless access to cars. With this acquisition, RelayRides will absorb Wheelz and its marketplace, technology, and several “key people” from the Wheelz team.

“RelayRides has been growing rapidly and we are confident that this acquisition will turbo-charge our growth,” said RelayRides director of communications Steve Webb to VentureBeat. “We are going to be better positioned to extend the benefits of peer-to-peer car sharing to more people across the U.S. This acquisition demonstrates that the peer-to-peer car sharing marketplace is maturing and consolidating. As an industry matures, consolidation follows, and the peer-to-peer car sharing industry is no exception. We are witnessing the evolution and maturation of an exciting space.”

Webb said that RelayRides and Wheelz share the goal of having a car within a 10-minute walk for at least 100 million Americans by the end of 2015. Instead of owning a car or renting one from an agency, people can turn to services like RelayRides for a more personal and affordable mode of transportation. Each car on the site has a profile with information about its features, ratings and reviews, and owner bio. All drivers are screened, and RelayRides provides insurance on the rentals, so drivers don’t have to worry about damages.

RelayRides and Wheelz are part of a trend surrounding “the rise of disownership.” Consumer attitudes and behaviors surrounding renting, borrowing, and leasing items, versus ownership, are shifting across the country. People are increasingly engaging in disownership by putting their under-used property to work. Internet startups facilitated this movement by adopting ‘shared economy’ or ‘collaborative consumption’ models that connect people with available assets to people who need them. AirBnB did this for homes, TaskRabbit for services, but the transportation space is still a dynamic and crowded area. Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar can be used instead of taxis, and RelayRides is providing an alternative to traditional rental agencies. It mainly competes with Zipcar and Getaround.

Since launching in 2012, RelayRides added tens of thousands of members into its marketplace and thousands of postings for cars. Webb said rental reassertion hours increased by 500 percent and April was the company’s best month yet in terms of revenue and new members added. By scooping up Wheelz, RelayRides will expand its marketplace.

RelayRides has raised $13 million in venture capital. In 2012, it teamed up with General Motors so that 6 million of GM’s OnStar subscribers could rent out their cars using RelayRides. Wheelz had raised a total of $15.7 million and includes Zipcar has an investor. Both companies are headquartered in San Francisco.

The financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Photo Credit:  Darryl W. Moran Photography

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

Transportation startups are a hot thing now, with Uber, Hailo, SideCar, Lyft, and others getting a lot of attention and controversy. But this space is a battleground with regulators attempting to stop innovation and some startups getting more favorable treatment than others.

The CEOs of ride-sharing service SideCar and taxi-hailing app Hailo showed that tension in a combative panel today at TechCrunch Disrupt NY.

SideCar CEO Sunil Paul (pictured, right) took a lot of shots throughout the conversation. His biggest target was New York City’s Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC). He said the TLC is using its power to protect taxis and apps that coordinate with the industry like Hailo and Uber.

“The TLC protects the taxi industry, and I don’t think anyone can deny that fact,” Paul said. “SideCar driver shifts are voluntarily and payment is voluntary. It is the regulation of taxis that is an illegal restraint of trade.”

Paul is understandably frustrated. This past weekend, New York City police targeted SideCar drivers in a sting operation. In a blog post, the company wrote that a SideCar driver named Sandra was interrogated by police and her new car was impounded.

“People are being treated like criminals for doing something that might threaten the taxi industry,” Paul said. “Sharing is not a crime. We want to make sharing possible in New York.”

By comparison, Hailo and Uber have just received approval from the TLC to operate e-hailing taxi services in NYC. With a few taps on your smartphone, you can now have a taxi come pick you up wherever you are in the city.

Hailo CEO Jay Bregman said he was happy about the development. He took the jabs from Paul quietly but finally responded when he’d had enough. Bregman said his company was part of a “broadening” taxi industry that has begun to innovate.

He said his service had paid out “millions” to taxi drivers in cities where Hailo already operates. He praised taxi drivers for embracing innovation. Paul said he didn’t have a problem with drivers, but with governments.

“Taxi drivers are great, but they are protected by a monopoly,” Paul said.

Hailo has only been operating in cities around the world for 14 months, so Bregman also said he was pleased that it only took that amount of time before the TLC approved his service.

“You can be disruptive without being abrasive,” Bregman said.

Paul shrugged off Bregman’s comment, saying, “If you want to be disruptive, you have to be willing to piss people off.”

At the end of the panel, the two did eventually hug, but it’s understandable why they are so at odds at the moment.

Check out the conversation in full below:

Photo via Sean Ludwig/VentureBeat

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

Uber founder Travis Kalanick takes the gladiator approach to entrepreneurship. Today in a blog post, he declared his intention to roll out ride-sharing on the existing Uber platform, posing a direct threat to companies like Lyft and SideCar that operate on a community ride-sharing model.

With this “Policy White Paper 1.0,” Kalanick stated that while at first Uber refrained from participating in ride-sharing due to regulatory risk, the “ambiguity” has encouraged him to implement ride-sharing as part of the app in “any market where the regulators have given tacit approval.”

“In most cities across the country, regulators have chosen not to enforce against nonlicensed transportation providers using ride-sharing apps,” he said. “This course of nonaction resulted in massive regulatory ambiguity leading to one-sided competition which Uber has not engaged in to its own disadvantage. … In the face of this challenge, Uber could have chosen to do nothing. We could have chosen to use regulation to thwart our competitors. Instead, we chose the path that reflects our company’s core: We chose to compete.”

Uber will now offer a ride-sharing feature in markets where a competitor has operated for 30 days without direct enforcement against them. There will be safety and insurance safeguards that “go beyond what local regulatory bodies have in place for commercial transportation,” including a $2 million insurance policy and extensive background checks on the drivers.

Kalanick said that while ride-sharing apps operate without traditional commercial insurance or licensing, Uber has taken most of the legal heat despite that its approach involves buying cars as well as having proper insurance and licenses. After watching regulators in New York, Seattle, Chicago, Boston, and California choose not to enforce “nonlicensed operators” such as Lyft, Kalanick will no longer sit on the sidelines.

He founded Uber because he was frustrated with the existing transportation options in cities and wanted to provide a superior alternative. Ride-sharing systems like Lyft and SideCar hold a similar goal: to offer on-demand, convenient, affordable rides to city residents.

Uber first started with its on-demand black car service and has since added SUV, Taxi, and UBERx, a cheaper midrange car option. Since the beginning, Uber has faced significant opposition from municipal regulators and transportation agencies (not to mention taxi cab companies) and has fought battles around the country to remain operational. Kalanick is known for never shying from a battle. He has consistently fought for his company’s right to exist, while at the same time growing Uber into an international company and adding new modes of transportation.

Now Kalanick is ready to compete in ride-sharing. As he said during a fireside chat last year, he thrives on competition.

“Competition is fun,” he said. “If there isn’t competition, what is the freaking purpose? Let’s have some fun and make the world a better place at the same time. You have to be fighter, you have to be a warrior, and if not, you should go do something that is a little less disruptive. I’m bringing it, I’m not sleeping. If the other guy is sleeping, I am going to kick his ass.”

Ride-sharing is starting to resemble a melee, with iPhones and pink mustaches as weapons. The question on my mind is that faced with legal opposition from regulators: Will these competitors band together? Competition may be good, but they all have the same enemies and the same battles to fight. Let the games begin.

Read the White Paper here.

Image credit: storem/Flickr

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

James Bond and Uber share an appreciation for efficient and sleek transportation. At least, this is the angle Uber went for in an announcement on the company blog this morning.

The on-demand car service has released a new Android app with the same “new paint, chrome rims” as the iPhone app, which was updated in December to make the Uber app “as elegant and comfortable as the ride.” Features include integration with Foursquare’s location database, so users don’t need to know their exact address, and saved frequent pickup locations, as well as a fare estimate calculator.

Additionally, Blackberry and Windows phone users now have access to Uber for the first time.

These new apps complement Uber’s aggressive geographical and team expansion, which are geared towards turning the company into “everyone’s private driver.” Since launching its first luxury black car offering in 2009, Uber has added taxi, SUV, and UberX into its suite of products to make it more accessible and affordable.

Furthermore, CEO Travis Kalanick recently announced at SXSW plans to grow his staff to 800 members and propel global expansion. Uber is now available across Europe, as well as the U.S. and Canada, and recently began testing its service in Asia. The company has clearly not been deterred by frequent legal battles with transportation regulation agencies.

Kalanick is extremely vocal about his belief that the taxi cab industry is broken and his unflagging commitment to disrupting it. Uber’s passionate and active user base has been instrumental in keeping Uber afloat while city commissioners and regulators were trying to shut it down. Bringing the app to more users will only expand its community and keep Uber marching along in its battle to create a taxi system that is convenient, and even pleasant, for consumers. Even if your average night out “doesn’t include taking down super-villains.”

Photo credit: Shutterstock

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

Americans spend 45 billion hours a year in the car, which is more than four times as much time as they spend on Facebook.

Joyride seeks to make this time more fun with voice-activated mobile applications that provide a safe and social way to spend the driving hours. The startup is launching publicly today after presenting off-the-record at the Founder Den Demo Day last week and announcing $1 million in funding.

Founders Jeff Chen and James Zhang previously developed Skyvi, a voice-activated media app which is like Siri for Android. They applied this expertise to creating the VoiceUI Architecture platform that forms Joyride’s foundation.

“We are not talking about a simple ‘navigate’ or text command,” said Chen during an interview at VentureBeat. “We are talking about a full-blown rich mobile application that is 100 percent hands-free and brings all the social fun pieces of the Internet to you while you are driving.”

The first application built on this voice platform is a trivia game. Your phone asks you questions about historical figures, landmarks, or events (and more) and provides clues. When you have a guess, you say it out loud, and you score points for being right. The game is what Chen describes as “fake synchronous.” You are neither playing against other people in real time or against a machine. Instead, you are matched against other players whose activity was already saved in the system. It gives the illusion of social connectivity — without the behind-the-wheel dangers.

“Internet penetration of the car is a big macro trend, and Internet usage in the car is inevitable,” Chen said. “Voice tech is finally getting really good, and with cloud services and connected devices, we are really seeing voice recognition where it can be great.

“The third factor here is social. People are super-bored while they are driving, and we think people want a social experience that is a safer alternative to mobile apps.”

The technology’s design has three criteria, according to CTO James Zhang. The first is a “reusable voice user interface” (VUI) that maintains data about certain commands. The second is how it handles arbitrary user input, or knowing what interactions apply to the app and which don’t. Third is the “equal coexistence” of voice and gesture user interface, all connected to the driver through the smartphone’s connectivity and an AUX jack or Bluetooth.

Down the road, Joyride plans to build a diverse library of applications on top of this platform that provide engaging in-car experiences.

“The most important thing is that people are suffering in their cars,” Chen said. “They are these tiny little boxes with tiny little windows and we are going to turn cars into starships and make it fun and interesting and even safer. This is just the beginning. It is a cool, untapped area that has a lot of potential.”

Investors see potential here, too. Freestyle Capital and the Cowboy Venture Fund, as well as angel investor Seth Goldstein, provided seed financing to to build out the engineering team and accelerate entrance into the market.

Photo Credit: Joyride

Kayak just released the results of a massive data pull where it analyzed more than a billion search queries to uncover insights on the best flight deals, busiest airports, and most popular destinations, and to provide tips on how to save money on travel.

The overall airfare increased to all popular destinations in 2012, with the one exception of Toronto, Canada. Las Vegas was the most popular destination in 2012, along with Orlando, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, and Denver.

Kayak found that September is the cheapest month for domestic travel with an average fare of $296.97. January and October follow closely behind with average airfares of $305.70 ad $310.62 respectively. If you want to travel during the summer, August is the least expensive month for domestic trips. To get for cheapest fares, travelers should book between 21 and 3 days before departure.

For those internationally bound, February and March are the cheapest months to fly, but will still cost travelers around $950. Airfare increases in April and May. For both international and domestic queries, January and February are the least busy times to fly.

Another interesting metric are destinations that are growing in popularity. Punta Cana, Santo Domingo, Tokyo, Mumbai, and Nashville all went up in terms of bookings while their prices stayed the same. London, Anchorage, New Orleans and Beijing also rose in popularity, but also in terms of cost. Airfare to Lima, Peru increased by thirty-three percent, despite the fact that its popularity dropped by sixteen percent.

Unfortunately, airfare is expensive regardless of when and where you are going. Those of us with budgets (and without planes of our own), need to pinch pennies where we can so there is more money left over for fun whenever you arrive.

So who is in for a Fall trip to Nashville? I hear Taylor Swift is performing, although tickets to that concert could cost more than the flight. Decisions, decisions.

Photo Credit: Dennis Wong/Flickr 

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

Avis wasted no time putting its new fleet of Zipcars to use.

Just five days after the $500 million deal closed, Zipcars are showing up at New York regional airports. Skift reported this morning that the Avis Car Rental pick-up facilities at JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark now house a handful of Zipcars, available at rates ranging from $12 per hour to $89 per day.

“The availability of Zipcars at airports will provide increased options for members who may not need a full day rental car, or for those who need to travel somewhere not easily accessible by public transit,” Zipcar president Mark Norman said. “We believe this is the first in many new offerings that will enhance the value of Zipcar membership that we can provide thanks to the support of the Avis Budget Group.”

This small expansion to airports is just the beginning. Norman said Zipcars will be available in additional airport locations over the course of the year, marking a departure from Zipcar’s traditional placement in cities and college campuses.

Avis and Zipcar announced the deal on January 2nd, but the papers were officially signed on March 15. Within hours, Zipcar’s CEO Scott Griffith resigned and COO Mark Norman took the job as top dog. Despite Zipcar’s popularity (it was 730,000 members and 1 million customers), the company was never able to turn a profit, losing about $55 million since 2007. The Avis acquisition will help both companies expand their reach and offer greater choice to consumers.  

“By combining with Zipcar, we will significantly increase our growth potential, both in the United States and internationally, and will position our company to better serve a greater variety of consumer and commercial transportation needs,” Avis Budget Group CEO Ronald Nelson said in a statement. “We see car sharing as highly complementary to traditional car rental, with rapid growth potential and representing a scalable opportunity for us as a combined company.”

Zipcar now operates as a subsidiary of Avis. Avis said it expects “to generate $50 to $70 million in annual synergies” in relation to the deal.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

In its push to grow beyond its San Francisco roots, ride-sharing service SideCar has reportedly purchased Austin, Texas-based competitor Heyride, according to an AllThingsD report published today.

The acquisition probably has something to do with the SXSW conference that’s held in Austin every year in early March. And as a new resident of this fair city, I can attest to its horrible traffic congestion during the morning and evening rush, which will undoubtedly be worse with an enormous event happening. That said, ride sharing services will likely see plenty of use during SXSW.

Much like SideCar, Heyride is an iPhone app that searches your immediate area for people who are available to transport you around town for a fee. That fee is determined prior to someone picking you up, and the transaction is done entirely over your smartphone, which eliminates awkward situations that involve breaking large bills or being surprised that the driver doesn’t have a credit card machine. You’re able to track your ride using the smartphone’s GPS and rate drivers once you’ve been dropped off.

Buying Heyride is a smart move for SideCar. Not only will it gain Heyride’s local user base, but it’ll also put the spotlight on SideCar and potentially take attention away from rival ride sharing service Lyft.

We’ve reached out to SideCar for more details about the acquisition as well as its plans for SXSW. And as always, we’ll update this post with any new information.

Founded in 2012, the San Francisco-based SideCar raised a $10 million round of funding back in October from Lightspeed Venture Partners and Google Ventures. Since launching last year, the startup has facilitated over 50,000 rides and grown a community of hundreds of drivers and thousands of passengers.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

Hats off to Avis Budget Group for closing one of the most opportunistic deals in recent years. The company’s $500 million acquisition of Zipcar represents a 180-degree shift in strategy, and may put the company a step ahead in the fiercely competitive car rental market.

In the aftermath of the announcement, Zipcar came under a firestorm of flak from Silicon Valley’s commentators. The primary criticisms are that the company is under-valued, and that the acquisition will stunt the unstable and nascent car-sharing economy.

However, the acquisition adds legitimacy to the car-sharing space, and will propel younger rivals into the spotlight.

“It’s a big day for car sharing and a proof-point for the industry,” said Jessica Scorpio, cofounder of Getaround, on hearing the news. In an interview, Scorpio said it was a “good deal,” primarily because the car-sharing market is still in its infancy. “Zipcar’s value hasn’t been realized yet,” she explained.

Massachusetts-based Zipcar is the undisputed leader in the car-sharing market. It was one of the first to experiment with the sharing business model when it’s founder Robin Chase, a mother of three, saw evidence of car-sharing’s success in Berlin in the late 1990s and promptly received financing. This model would later be dubbed the ‘The Sharing Economy’ by its Bay Area advocates, including Zipcar early investor and former AOL chief executive Steve Case, and would later be adopted by services like Airbnb.

Zipcar manages a fleet of more than 10,000 for-rent vehicles spread across 19 metropolitan markets and over 300 college campuses. The 12-year-old car-sharing network has more than 730,000 members and about 1 million customers. The company booked 4 million total reservations in 2011.

At first look, this may seem impressive, but Zipcar has never been able to turn an annual profit, losing about $55 million since 2007. This prompted the Wall Street Journal to recently call it a “pretty awful” company.

Still, the new generation of startups view Zipcar as the pioneer in the space, paving the way for more feasible business models. The company was one of the first to experiment with hourly rentals, which allowed it to break into markets and demographics that traditional car-rental services like Hertz and Avis could not. The service found its niche with busy urbanites who rent nearby vehicles for weekend use, and often opt out of owning a car altogether.

Is $500 million a fair price?

From a purely financial perspective, it’s a fair deal.

Zipcar has struggled to grow its membership base and turn a profit. As entrepreneur Mark Rogowsky rightly points out in Forbes, there is a fundamental “structural issue” — users typically rent a Zipcar over the weekend. But Zipcar owns a fleet of roughly 10,000 for-rent vehicles and must pay for their upkeep and maintenance on a consistent basis.

An acquisition is also motivated by a company’s efforts to market to new customers. In a phone call with analysts, Avis CEO Ronald L. Nelson revealed that he was skeptical of car-sharing services in the past but viewed this acquisition as an opportunity to reach a younger demographic and increase weekend availability.

Avis hopes this will translate into revenue — it said it expects “to generate $50 to $70 million in annual synergies” in relation to the deal. The company also said it expects its full-year 2012 revenue to be about $7.3 billion, a 24 percent increase over 2011.

“What’s unique about Zipcar is the brand,” said Scorpio. “In terms of car-sharing, Zipcar is the top-notch experience.” She told me that traditional car-rental services have been sniffing at the heels of Silicon Valley startups for years, but that Getaround isn’t in the market for an acquisition.

“We have pretty frequent conversations with car rental [companies] and car automakers,” she said. “[But] I think the quick win is Zipcar if you can get it.”

Zipcar owns cars — it’s not peer-to-peer

Zipcar’s younger rivals will often tell you that its business model is broken, as the company is encumbered by its inventory. In its life span, it has needed to borrow $97 million to finance its fleet of cars.

“Thank God we don’t have that model,” said RelayRides‘ CEO Andre Haddad in an interview. “Their economics are different.”

The “peer-to-peer” model has numerous business advantages. It taps into the installed base of cars that people already own. For one thing, Getaround has developed some unique IP in the form of its hardware, its CarKit, which allows users to unlock a stranger’s car via a smartphone.

Both RelayRides and Getaround have seen faster adoption and have expanded to more cities than Zipcar. Getaround claims to have signed up over 10,000 car owners in a year and a half, while Zipcar took 12 years to build up its fleet of 10,000 cars.

While Zipcars often sit idle, Getaround has been able to capitalize and plans on “leveraging the 250 million cars that sit idle 22 hours per day,” according to Scorpio. Likewise, Relayrides, a service that lets you rent cars from anyone in your community, expanded last year from 2 cities in 2 states to 1,200 cities in 49 states.

With peer-to-peer, there are no parking or logistics issues, and scaling is more seamless. As Scorpio often says, “It’s about car access over ownership.”

Meanwhile, Zipcar couldn’t find a cost-effective way to increase its membership, and its growth rate hit the skids in the past three years. As the Wall Street Journal points out, Zipcar was a “prodigious money-loser” and consistently had to halt plans to move into Europe, which would take more resources than the company had at its disposal.

This deal won’t halt innovation

The news seems to have offended some commentators, who hit back with claims that such a move would stunt disruptive innovation, perhaps even knocking the confidence of younger players in the space.

Sarah Lacy of PandoDaily wrote about her many reasons for hating the deal, arguing that Zipcar has made “inroads into this oligopoly” and that with the “biggest disruptor gone … all the others are still fledgling.” She said that Avis is not a tech company and would be unlikely to push the envelope.

The deal may not be considered cool from Silicon Valley’s (somewhat insular) perspective, but it doesn’t appear to have affected morale.

As a whole, the ride-sharing space has experienced its ups and downs, most recently with lawsuits levied against services like Uber, Sidecar, and Lyft, but yesterday’s acquisition isn’t one of them.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

Finding a parking spot is a challenge in urban locations. I have opted to trek across town in the dead of night, shell out for a cab, or brave public transportation to avoid the frustration that is searching for a place to park.

ParkWhiz tackles this problem by allowing drivers to find and reserve parking spots in advance. This Chicago-based startup has raised $2 million in its first round of institutional funding from Hyde Park Venture Partners, Hyde Park Angels, Amicus Capital and big name angel investors Alexis Ohanian and Garry Tan. This investment will be used to expand its presence into more locations across the nation.

ParkWhiz was founded in 2006 and there are over 3 million parking spaces in its database. It is active in Chicago, San Francisco, New York, Baltimore, and New Orleans, as well as over 100 airports and popular sporting destinations such Boston’s Fenway Park and the Dallas Cowboys Stadium. The company has intelligently struck strategic partnerships with sports teams and venues, as well as ticket providers like StubHub, to offer parking inventory.

“Transportation disruption is a huge trend right now,” said cofoudner and CEO Aashish Dalal in an interview with VentureBeat. “There are a variety of companies shaking up hailing taxis, finding overnight accommodations, sharing cars, booking private jets, and even bicycle ownership. ParkWhiz enables an existing consumer behavior within what is traditionally a very offline consumer experience. By aggregating real-time data about parking availability and pricing, we have pioneered a new way for parking owners and consumers to find each other.”

Not only can users see what spots are available and claim them in advance, but they can also compare price, location, and amenities. Once the transaction is complete, drivers receive a ParkWhiz digital parking pass and directions to their spot. It is prepaid, which eliminates concerns about losing pay stubs or not having the right amount of cash.

Last week, another Chicago-based startup SpotHero announced a $2.5 million round led by Battery Ventures. SpotHero was accelerated in Excelerate Labs and focuses on the pain point of finding parking on the go. Its mobile app shows available spaces in parking garages nearby and is mainly active in Chicago. Other competitors include KurbKarma, which adds a social network layer atop the parking search capability, and ParqPlace, a startup incubated by Lemons Labs that takes more of a shared economy approach by combining mobile technology and hardware to capitalize on spaces owned by schools, churches, businesses, and residents.

At one time or another, these startups have been referred to as the “OpenTable” “Uber” or “AirBnB” of parking. Rather than drawing comparisons, lets revert to the simple fact that parking can be stressful and most people welcome technology that eliminates unnecessary stress from their lives, particularly when it means the fun can start sooner.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

The US is home to more than 250 million registered passenger vehicles, making it the largest market for cars and trucks in the world. Of these vehicles, how many are under-used? Left to wallow in dark garages or gather dust in lonely parking lots? I do not have numbers on this, but I do know that a startup called Local Motion is working to give these cars their chance around the block.

Local Motion is the first company to graduate from the Lemnos Labs hardware incubator program. The startup manufactures a module that can be installed in any vehicle to make it more shareable. Corporations, university campuses, and municipalities often have fleets of vehicles available for their employees’ use, but do not manage these fleets in the most cost-effective or convenient way. Local Motion’s “employee mobility programs” makes vehicle sharing more efficient.

“We are trying to build better transportation networks,” said cofounder Clement Gires. “There are 2 million cars in the U.S. in fleets and those cars are meant to be shared, but the existing infrastructure is not as efficient as it should be. We provide a smarter link between the infrastructure on the ground and the people”

The technology not only replaces keys, but also transmits and collects data. Users can see available vehicles from their smart phone and hold one for immediate use. When they arrive at the parking lot (or wherever), a little light indicates the appropriate bike, car, or scooter, and it can be accessed by swiping an employee badge. GPS, accelerometer, and other monitoring technology tracks where the vehicles are and their “health status.”

“We are trying to leverage all the data collected in field,” Gires said. “How long are the vehicles moving? Where are people going? How many times a day do people take them out? How many people are on board every trip? We use this data to understand and anticipate mobility patterns at different times of day, and tell companies where to distribute their cars, what types of vehicles to have, and how many. This will save businesses a lot of money.”

Local Motion began deploying the technology two months ago at the Google campus in Mountain View, which has 150 electric vehicles and 2,000 bicycles in its fleet. The team is also targeting universities like Standard, which has 400 small electric vehicles and 1500 cars, and other large, local corporations. Ultimately, the vision is to install the technology in the vehicles at the manufacturing stage.

When Gires and his cofounder John Stanfield first started out, they were working on accreting “the most shareable vehicle ever.” However, they realized that instead of adding more vehicles to the equation, they could have a greater impact by optimizing the vehicles that are already in the market.

Local Motion was the first company  Lemnos Labs invested in, and for a while, the 4-wheel, 4-seater electric golf cart lived in the incubator’s warehouse and shared work space in SOMA. Since officially opening its doors earlier this year, Lemnos has added 9 hardware startups to its portfolio. After developing the product and successfully raising a $1 million seed round, Local Motion has moved on to its own work space in Burlingame.

Lemnos Labs was founded by Jeremy Conrad and Helen Zelmen, two MIT grads who made the pilgrimage to Silicon Valley to found a startup. They were interested in creating a hardware company, but saw that there was not a firm ecosystem in place to support them. Instead of starting their own company, they chose to nurture others.

Participants in Lemnos labs receive warehouse space, access to prototyping and testing facilities, and equipment including a full electrical bench, irons, a light machine, drill press, a grinder etc… They also have access to legal services, introductions to suppliers, mentorship, design reviews, and guest speakers, as well as an investor network.

Even though the overhead expenses can be higher for hardware companies than software companies, Conrad said there is greg excitement surrounding the potential of these companies and platforms like Kickstarter are making it easier to bring a hardware product to market.

“Hardware matters because there are a lot of problems that can’t be addressed on the software side,” Conrad said. “We happen to live in the physical world, it will never go away. That is why we are passionate about this. The perception may be that is is too hard, but there has been a radical shift in the past 10 years of what it takes to get a hardware company of the ground. These companies are showing us what they can do.”

To be accepted into the program, a startup must demonstrate that it has a manufacturable, scaleable product with real-world applications. The goal is to give startups the resources to prove their concepts, create a working prototype, or sell production hardware. Basically, to make enough progress to raise funding and venture out on their own.

Now that they have raised a seed round, Local Motion intends to expand the product and deliver it more broadly. Gires said he would like to get 10 big, local customers in the next year with more than 50 cars each. This initial investment came from Tim Draper of Draper Associates, Jerry Yang of Ame Cloud Ventures, Ash Patel of Morado Ventures, and Tony Hsieh from the The Vegas Tech Fund.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

Every time I get off a plane, I wish I could teleport to my final destination. After spending hours in transit, the last thing I want to deal with is more transit, but unless there is a generous family member awaiting my arrival, ground transportation is the only available option.

Travel startup Mozio is attempting to make this leg of the journey less painful. The site aggregates all the limos, taxis, ride shares, shuttles, shared vans, and public transit to help travelers go the “final miles.” The best choice for getting from terminal to destination (or vice versa) is often confusing, particularly when touching down in a new place. Cost, timing, convenience, and comfort all need to be factored in.

“No one lives or vacations at airports. Yet travel search engines seem to always neglect the fact that one actually needs to get into the city once you land,” said CEO and founder David Litwak. “Getting to airports on your own can be the most expensive, take the longest, and cause the most stress out of any other part of the trip. For a quick flight from D.C. to New York, getting to and from the airport can take as much as 50% of the cost and time of the entire journey!”

Litwak has traveled to 65 counties, and this was a frustration he repeatedly encountered during his adventures. Booking a flight online did not include all the incurred transportation costs, and researching this independently took a needless amount of effort. After graduating from Berkeley in 2010 with a computer science degree and working for a few technology companies, he founded Mozio.

The technology works through the APIs of participating ground transportation providers. Mozio partners with these companies to include their offerings in the search engine. The team also seeks out local providers to give the most comprehensive picture of the transportation in each location.

“Our belief is that most people want to know all their options in a city,” Litwak said. “If a particular option in a city happens to be the best, they want to know about it, and this changes city by city, and region by region. Some regions have airporters that will get you very close to your destination for only a few extra dollars. Some cities have taxi fares that are super low, like Chicago, and others have trendy tech startups like SideCar that offer a cheap way to get a personalized ride to the airport. The equation is different in every city.”

The company is still new and building out its partnership network as well as working on its API. It has already generated interest from companies like TripAdvisor and Orbitz. Mozio has raised $185,000 in startup capital from Chairman of Orbitz Jeff Clarke, as well as Ryan Tu, Bradley Schwartz, and Amidzad Partners. The team of three is based on San Francisco.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

When one door closes, another one opens. Just a day after Uber shuttered its NYC taxi service, the company brings TAXI to San Francisco. Now, in addition to town cars and SUVs, taxis will be an option for San Francisco in the Uber app.

The company’s mission is to provide on-demand transportation across a range of price points. In a blog post from this evening, Uber’s community manager Matt Hearns wrote, “Choice is a beautiful thing. … You shouldn’t have to juggle a dozen different apps to figure out the best way to get where you’re going.”

The service went live today but is being released gradually to ensure a smooth transition. Drivers will still use the meters in their vehicles to calculate the base fare. Instead of directly charging the passenger, drivers will input the fare into their Uber issues iPhones. Any tolls, additional charges, gratuity, and a booking fee will be included, and then the total amount will directly charge the rider’s credit card through the app.

As opposed to other cab-calling apps that contact dispatches, Uber’s TAXI functions as a digital “hail” that pings the nearest available car. Before signing up drivers, Uber interviews and logs their personal information so the same system of accountability exists.

While founder Travis Kalanick’s team can’t manifest more taxis for stranded San Franciscans, they can try to make the hailing process more convenient than competing with hoards of other urbanites for a coveted cab.

Carrying over 800 pounds of supplies for the ISS crew — including ice cream for a treat — SpaceX Dragon successfully docked around 4 a.m. PST this morning when Japanese astronaut Akihidko Hoshide secured the spacecraft with the station’s robotic arm.

“Looks like we’ve tamed the Dragon,” NASA expedition commander Sunita Williams said when the arm grabbed the craft. “We’re happy she’s on board with us.”

Capture is confirmed! "Looks like we've tamed the #Dragon" @Astro_Suni spacex.com/webcast

—
  (@SpaceX) October 10, 2012

This is a historic moment in the history of humanity in space, as it marks the first privately funded and managed spacecraft to launch, carry supplies into orbit, and deliver them to a space station. In one sense, it’s a continuing of NASA’s and other nations’ space agencies exploration of space. In another, it opens a new era of commercialization of space technology and space flight, almost like something out of science-fiction author Ben Bova’s Grand Tour series, with SpaceX founder Elon Musk playing the role of industrialist and explorer Dan Randolph.

Securing the spacecraft is only the first step. The ISS crew now has to dock the ship in the station’s port, the “Common Berthing Mechanism,” from which the astronauts can access the ship and extract the supplies.

Dragon’s flight was not uneventful: One of the spacecraft’s nine rocket engines failed during the launch. However, the craft, which is designed to still launch with only seven operational engines, recalculated a new ascent profile, relieved pressure in the blocked rocket, and successfully reached orbit.

Building a space launch vehicle that can successfully complete missions even when things go wrong is impressive design, and SpaceX says that no other currently operational rockets have the same capability.

In addition, it’s worth noting that, while spaceflight may never be cheap, the cost for SpaceX to deliver supplies and groceries to low-earth orbit are approximately half NASA’s now-shuttered space shuttle. Lifting a kilogram of cargo to low Earth orbit costs Spacex about $5,000; the shuttle burned about $10,000 to accomplish the same feat.

The Dragon will stay at the ISS for an expected two and half weeks and then return to Earth with a cargo from the space station.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

As debates over foreign policy and the state of the economy rage onscreen, another battle is sweeping our nation’s streets. Transportation agencies and alternative transportation networks are facing off, and venture capitalists at least, are hedging their bets with the startups.

Ridesharing company SideCar has announced raising $10 million in funding. This announcement comes just two days after news broke that the California Public Utilities Commission issued Cease & Desist orders to SideCar, Lyft and Zimride, stating that these businesses violate state laws.

These three ride-sharing apps, which connect private drivers with passengers via smartphones, are continuing to operate. The law prohibits transportation services and drivers from operating without proper consent, but the founders assert that the donation-based business model protects them against these charges. Uber, another popular car service, has also been locked in legal battles with regulatory agencies as it attempts roll out its service in new markets around the country.

The popularity and widespread adoption of these taxi alternatives make them a viable investment, even considering the sticky legal issues. Since launching earlier this year in San Francisco, SideCar has facilitated more than 50,000 rides and grown a community of hundreds of drivers and thousands of passengers.

The strong reactions from regulatory agencies and the fierce dedication of consumers frustrated with traditional taxi options are a clear sign that this industry is in a state of disruption.

This investment from Lightspeed Venture Partners and Google Ventures will support expansion into new markets, and according to CEO Sunil Paul will “accelerate the crowd-sourced transportation movement.”

To this effect, SideCar has also announced acquiring a US Patent that covers the company’s method for accepting passenger pickup requests, determining location, and dispatching vehicles to that location.

When the dust does clear and peer-to-peer transportation networks are the norm, these companies and their investors stand to benefit from being early voices to take a stand and deliver inexpensive, reliable, convenient rides. What a concept.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

Travis Kalanick is a fighter. As he sat on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt, the Uber founder radiated intensity as he spoke about his company’s continuing battles with regulatory agencies.

It is an easy stretch of the imagination to picture him at the helm of an army, waving a revolutionary flag and calling for Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.

These are, in fact, the values he says he is fighting for. Uber is a car service where users can book luxury rides on demand from their smartphones. It is more expensive than the average taxi service, but the quality of the service and vehicles is higher. It offers a desirable arrangement for riders who have trouble finding a cab, or who prefer to travel in comfort and style, as well as for the drivers who can generate extra income.

Uber’s opponents are local transportation regulatory agencies. Cab services are heavily regulated in American cities, and regulators have claimed that Uber is illegal. Kalanick, of course, disagrees, and has gone up against taxi commissions across the country to keep his business alive.

“I don’t understand regulators,” Kalanick said. “They are governed by three principles. One is cronyism, they feel the need to protect people they regulate. Two is control. If they don’t have rules for something, they feel it is illegal even if it isn’t. You have to have rules to enforce them. Three is communication. They are incredibly sensitive to what is in the public view. But If you only follow the rules, they will never let you make the city a better place.”

Kalanick strategically designed his business to get around the tangled web of transportation regulations. While he is engaged in legal drama, he said he has legions of riders taking up his cause on the social media streets.

“What social media allows us to do is give consumers and citizens a voice to make their city a better place, let the right things happen, let innovation flow,” Kalanick said. “We put so much love into our product and it delivers so much value that if a politician or a regulator tries to take it away because of incumbent industry pressure, they get enraged. This is not a blue or a red state issue, this is about people having a good quality of life and high quality of services in cities around the world. We are making the world a better place.”

In the wake of Uber, a number of other alternative taxi services like Lyft and Sidecar have cropped up. Cities have also responded by changing their regulations to make cabs more accessible. Not one to shy from a fierce playing field, Kalanick said he welcomes the competition.

“Competition is fun,” he said. “If there isn’t competition, what is the freaking purpose? Let’s have some fun and make the world a better place at the same time. You have to be fighter, you have to be a warrior, and if not, you should go do something that is a little less disruptive. I’m bringing it, I’m not sleeping. If the other guy is sleeping, I am going to kick his ass.”

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Tickets On Sale Now

Trimble Navigation has acquired transportation and logistics software maker TMW Systems from Pamlico Capital for $335 million, the companies announced today.

The Beachwood, Ohio-based TMW Systems develops enterprise-level transportation management software that lets businesses manage operations from a central hub, analyze data, and automated important business processes. TMW’s enterprise software already integrates with Trimble’s software — when you combine the two, they serve more than 3,000 trucking fleets worldwide.

“Trimble’s global presence will provide a strong channel for extending TMW’s reach and scope, beyond its leading position in North America,” TMW CEO David Wangler said in a canned statement. “Together, our complementary technologies can deliver exceptional return on information that improves our customers’ operational efficiencies and allows them to deliver superior customer service.”

The $335 million deal was an all-cash purchase and it will be financed through Trimble’s existing credit facility. TMW’s trailing 12-month revenue is about $96 million.

White truck on asphalt photo via Shutterstock

“Figuring out how to make it go took about two months. Figuring out how to make it stop took about two years,” founder Ben Forman told VentureBeat. The board is unique because instead or requiring manual controls, it senses the rider’s weight, surging forward when they lean forward, and slowing when they lean back.

Ben Forman with the ZBoard

At the DEMO Spring 2012 conference in Santa Clara, Calif. this week, the company unveiled three new 2012 special editions of the ZBoard, each costing $1,000.

“Who here likes cool new shit?,” Forman said before introducing the new ZBoards to the DEMO crowd. “This isn’t Twitter for dogs,” he added, calling the ZBoard a “sidewalk-shredding” and “Segway-smoking” transportation device.

The San Francisco-inspired board has a stronger motor to handle the big hills, and a Giants orange-and-black design. The Santa Monica special edition (pictured above) has increased range and a surfer aesthetic. Coolest of all, the Stereo Special board (pictured right) has Bluetooth-enabled speakers so you can play tunes directly from your smartphone or music player.

The original $500 ZBoard was first launched in January at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. While not yet shipping (the first boards should be ready in May), the company is taking pre-orders and has hosted a very successful Kickstarter campaign. To date, Intuitive Motion has raised $35,000 from friends and family.

A panel of experts was completely wowed by the futuristic skateboard. Cisco’s SVP of IT communication and collaboration Sheila Jordan said she would be buying one for her son tonight but added that she’d like to see future ZBoards built with the female rider in mind. And Menlo Ventures managing partner Shervin Pishevar said the ZBoard reminded him of Back to the Future.

The Hermosa Beach, Calif.-based company is the brainchild of mechanical engineers who met at the University of Southern California. They wanted something faster than a skateboard, cooler and smaller than a bike, and able to lend a hand going up hills.

ZBoard is one of 80 companies chosen by VentureBeat to launch at the DEMO Spring 2012 event taking place this week in Silicon Valley. After we make our selections, the chosen companies pay a fee to present. Our coverage of them remains objective.

“You will never need to carry a paper map again,” writes Chikai Ohazama, Director of Product Management, Google Maps for mobile, in the company’s mobile blog. “The ‘Download map area’ lab in Google Maps 5.7 for Android is a step in making that statement true even when you’re offline.”

The “Download map area” lab requires Android 2.1+ and the latest version of Google Maps. You can use it to download any map with a 10-mile radius and navigate without a data signal or data plan. That’s handy because previous versions of Google Maps require an active internet connection in order to download the map data as you go. It could also be especially helpful for traveling abroad. Not only can you get around, you will look less touristy by not waving around a paper map.

Part of the helpfulness comes from Google admitting a weakness. Opening Google Maps for mobile and zooming into a specific area without data coverage or wifi results on the (incredibly frustrating) image to the left. Now you can “Download map area” while you still have access to Wi-Fi or data coverage and get the image on the right.

To access Labs on your phone, press your phone’s menu button once in Google Maps, choose “More” and select Labs. On a tablet, click the menu button in the upper-right corner of Maps. Google says a map download should only take a minute or two.

“This download stores only the base map tiles and the landmarks on the map, so you still need a data connection to see satellite view and 3D buildings, search for Places and get directions,” writes Ohazama.

The “Download map area” feature comes on the heels of  the Google Maps 5.7 for Android release Wednesday, which added a number of additional features: better suggested search results, a photo viewer to Place pages, and Transit Navigation.

Transit Navigation, which is still in beta testing, allows stop-by-stop navigation for public transit in more than 400 cities. Here’s the coolest part: Transit Navigation uses GPS to determine your current location along your route and alerts you when it’s time to get off or make a transfer, even if you open another application or put your phone away entirely. Since Transit Navigation relies on GPS signals, it can only be used for above-ground transit. This should also be helpful for people who are hearing impaired, since there’s a vibrating alert.

“Now you can spend more time enjoying the sights out the window and less time worrying about how many stops are left, where you are along the route or whether you missed your stop,” writes Chris Van Der Westhuizen, Software Engineer, on Google’s official blog.

How quaint to think travelers will look out a window and not their Android device.

You can download Google Maps 5.7 for Android here. It requires an Android OS 2.1+ device and works anywhere Google Maps is currently available.

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