Investment from Smedvig Capital and MMC Ventures to fuel expansion of Masabi’s ticketing and payments platform and build on strategic partnerships with Uber, Transit, Jorudan and Keolis
Masabi, the company bringing Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) ticketing and payments to public transport, today announced a $20 million growth funding round with investment led by Smedvig Capital with MMC Ventures and other existing investors. The capital will accelerate Masabi’s global expansion of its award-winning mobility platform, Justride, and fast-track the company’s role in bringing digital transformation to transit agencies and operators of all sizes, enabling the foundations for integrated multi-modal journeys.
On target to exceed $1bn in annual transit ticketing sales over the coming year, Masabi will continue building on its recent additions to Justride, which removes the need for passengers to buy a ticket. Instead, they simply tap a contactless bank card, mobile phone or smartcard to travel. These innovations, together with world-first integrations with transport leaders including Uber, Transit, Jorudan and Keolis, are making it easier for people to discover and access public transit services in an efficient and scalable way, helping place public transit at the center of the global Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) movement.
“With over 85 million journeys enabled by the Justride platform in 2018 and partnerships with some of the biggest names in mobility, Masabi is already a category leader and the opportunities for global growth are significant,” said Jonathan Lerner, MD at Smedvig. “The combination of Masabi’s track record of customers, innovation and technology made this investment decision one we feel extremely enthusiastic about and we are excited about working closely with them to accelerate their global expansion.”
“We’re proud to see Masabi having scaled from London to the world, changing the way people move around cities every day. $1bn in annual ticket sales is only a milestone – the next phase is about partnering with and powering those that the public trust to get them where they are going, from transit agencies to ride-sharing and planning apps. As one of Masabi’s earliest investors, it has been great to have Smedvig Capital buy into Masabi’s vision.” Simon Menashy, Partner, MMC Ventures.
“For too long, cutting-edge innovation in transit ticketing was only available to mega cities with multi $100m budgets. But a quick and easy ticketing experience shouldn’t be the sole preserve of these cities. It should be available to passengers using any public transport service anywhere around the globe,” said Brian Zanghi, CEO of Masabi. “Through innovations such as simply being able to tap a contactless bank card to travel and integrations into the top mobility apps, Masabi is delivering on this vision. As we enter a new phase, having the support of Smedvig Capital, MMC Ventures, Mastercard and our other investors means we can continue to drive the market forward and help ever more cities and transit operators around the world embrace the latest in ticketing and payments technology and the future of practical MaaS.”
Masabi’s Justride platform is currently in operation with more than 50 transport agencies in ten countries, from tier one cities to local bus operators, including for Boston MBTA, National Express, New York MTA, HTM The Hague, TAO Orleans, Denver RTD, LA Metrolink, Lurraldebus in Spain, My Fast Ferry in Sydney and Las Vegas RTC.
Integrated mobility delivered to transit agencies around the globe:
Masabi, which developed the first and only ticketing Justride Software Development Kit (SDK) for public transport, enables urban mobility providers such as journey planners and bike-, scooter- and ride-sharing services to integrate public transit into their applications, connecting services for a seamless passenger experience:
- In April, Masabi and Transit launched an integrated service for riders in St. Catharines, Canada, enabling them to use Transit to access and ride on public transit services
- Early in 2019, Masabi announced a new combined solution with Uber and Regional Transportation District (RTD) in Denver – the first US-based transit agency to benefit from an integrated public transit experience within the Uber app
- Globally, Masabi’s Justride SDK is now live in France and Spain with SDK partners Kisio Digital and Gertek, and is licenced in Japan through a partnership with Jorudan, Japan’s leading trip planning service
