Shell invests in Masabi to help make public transport easier to choose and use
Global leader in mobile ticketing and Mobility-as-a-Service enabler for public transport announces investment from Shell to accelerate global deployments of its Justride platform
London, UK, February 6th, 2020 Masabi, the leader in Fare Payments-as-a-Service for public transport, today announced that it has finalised an investment from Shell. This investment will help support the global expansion of Masabi’s Justride platform, which is bringing cutting-edge ticketing technology and enabling Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) for public transport operators and authorities of all sizes around the globe.
Shell’s investment is an extension to Masabi’s recent $20 million growth funding round led by Smedvig Capital with MMC Ventures and other existing investors. With over 70 clients across 13 countries, Masabi’s world-first integration with transport leaders including Uber, Transit, Jorudan and Kisio Digital is making it easier for people to choose and use public transport services through mass consumer apps, helping place public transport at the center of the global MaaS movement. Increased use of public transport is an important step in decarbonizing the mobility sector both in urbanised areas and more widely.
Currently processing more than $1billion in annual transport ticketing sales, Masabi continues to add features and functionality to the Justride platform. Its latest capability removes the need for passengers to buy a ticket before traveling, allowing them to simply tap a contactless bank card, mobile phone or smartcard to ride. This adaptability and continuous innovation allows the company to bring new and better ways of running ticketing services to cities of all sizes. Instead of bespoke fare collection systems which are slow to deploy, expensive, often in place for decades and do not easily update with new features and functionality, cities can move to a Fare Payments-as-a-Service model using a platform which is quick to deploy, reduces costs and is constantly updating with new features available for everyone to use. This new way of delivering ticketing services helps cities keep up with the pace of technology change, while allowing more money to be put back into running transport services.
“As mobile ticketing has evolved, so has the scope of our work. We have expanded our focus beyond just enabling the purchase of tickets to offering passengers convenient solutions for discovering transit options and driving uptake of public systems to reduce congestion,” Brian Zanghi, CEO at Masabi, said. “Today, we are working alongside industry leaders in the mobility space to drive the broad deployment of mobile ticketing and fare payment systems around the world. We are delighted to welcome Shell as a strategic partner and look forward to working with them to improve the accessibility, discoverability and usability of public transport services globally.”
“While hybrid and zero-emission projects have proven that the potential for reducing costs and cutting emissions is substantial, we also see the need to take vehicles off the road by transitioning drivers to become riders,” said Roger Hunter, Vice President of E-Mobility at Shell. “But for this to happen, there needs to be a revolution in how people make and take journeys in and around cities; public transport has to modernise and become easier and simpler to choose and use. Through our partnership with Masabi, we find ourselves at the forefront of an emerging technology that is already delivering a tangible and positive impact on how people move around towns and cities across the world.”
About Masabi
Masabi is bringing Fare Payments-as-a-Service to public transit agencies of all sizes around the globe. Through our Fare Payments platform, Justride, agencies can sign up to mobile ticketing services, enable Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS), or deploy an account-based full fare collection solution using contactless bank cards, mobile devices and smartcards. With over 70 clients across 13 countries, including in cities such as New York, London, Sydney, Tokyo, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orleans, The Hague and Bucharest, Justride is the world’s leading Fare Payments platform, serving the largest transit agency in the US to local bus operators. Masabi has offices in New York, Denver, London and Cluj, and investors include Mastercard and Keolis. For more information, visit www.masabi.com
Media Contacts:
Richard Howson
Temono for Masabi (Europe)
+44 7833 693 862
masabi@temono.com
Shannon Casey
Version 2.0 Communications for Masabi (North America)
+1 603 703 7550
masabi@v2comms.com