Ubirider, a mobility fintech company and creator of Ubirider Platform, a digital mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) platform for transport providers, riders and cities that helps move people, information and payments seamlessly, announced yesterday that it has closed a seed round of funding co-led by Techtree Investments, an investment vehicle from CTT and managed by Iberis Capital, and Cedrus R&D III, an investment vehicle managed by Cedrus Capital. Existing investor Grupo Barraqueiro also participated, as well as two angel investors Jose Santos from the United States and Andrés Alcalá from Colombia. The $1.95 Million raised will be used to grow the company internationally and expand the product development and marketing teams to bring open mobility and banking through innovative contactless payment solutions to transit riders and operators everywhere.
With more than 11.4 Million transactions on the Ubirider Platform, Ubirider has demonstrated the high demand for digital and open-loop ticketing (use of contactless bank cards or smartphone wallets) by transport providers and cities. Open-loop and MaaS capabilities deliver added value to riders by offering a seamless travel experience, enabling contactless payment and travel with a smartphone or a bank card. Data Bridge Market Research forecasts that the global mobile payment technologies market will reach $2 trillion by 2030, and is expected to undergo a CAGR of 37% during the forecast period.
“Payments have long been of great relevance to Group CTT, particularly to Payshop, our subsidiary company specializing in payments, and transport and mobility ticketing. Currently, the adoption of mobile ticketing and contactless payments in cities by transport service providers is a trend that is experiencing significant growth and is an area where will continue to invest,” said Nuno Matos, Director of Digital, New Channels and Innovation at CTT. “What Ubirider has created with its mobility as a service platform makes us very confident in its potential to gain relevance in the market. At the same time, we are very excited to see how it will help transform public transport into something that people enjoy and seek, as well as contribute to environmental sustainability, which is one of our strategic priorities. We are very happy to have Ubirider in the portfolio of our investment vehicle, Techtree.”
“While the Covid pandemic all but halted the growth in the transportation market, we are now seeing a surging demand for mobile-first solutions,” said Pedro Appleton Figueira, Partner at Cedrus Capital. “Riders want to purchase, store, and manage tickets seamlessly using their smartphones, and operators need to have better insights into rider patterns and behaviour to make the best business decisions to better serve their customers. The team at Ubirider has been exceptionally thoughtful and visionary in creating a solution that addresses the needs on both sides and we are thrilled to be a part of their next growth phase.”
“We invested in Ubirider for the first time in July 2019 and we are now investing again, because, over these years we have seen Ubirider’s team passion, commitment and dedication to excellence to develop digital products for agencies and travellers that go beyond just great tech and also provide an optimal user experience,” said Artur Pedrosa, Director of the Board at Grupo Barraqueiro. “Ubirider Platform has a smart design that is simple yet powerful, meeting the needs of several different stakeholders inside a transportation agency: managers, dispatchers, fare collection, sales & marketing, finance, payments, etc. Grupo Barraqueiro is not just an investor, it is also a happy customer. We see with great satisfaction and pride the start of Ubrider’s internationalization, so other transportation companies can, like us, benefit from the powerful Ubirider Platform.”
“Facing the pandemic was challenging, to say the least for a company focused on the mobility market, but our team and our sole investor (at the time), Grupo Barraqueiro, believed in our mission and persevered to create the most complete, flexible and robust mobility platform on the market,” said Paulo Ferreira dos Santos, CEO and Founder of Ubirider. “The positive customer feedback we’ve received drives us to continue innovating to enable the most convenient, seamless travel experience for riders, but also to offer agencies of any size an affordable and powerful digital platform that will maximize operational efficiency.”
