Written by: Ryan Davis
Contxto – Brazilian mobility startup Quicko recently raised US$10 million worth of seed funding from infrastructure concession company CCR and Brazilian private equity fund J2L.
Undeniably tech-oriented, Quicko describes itself as a big data and mobile intelligence startup that provides users in the São Paulo metropolitan area with the fastest or cheapest transportation options for a given route.
The company’s app integrates multiple forms of transportation such as subway, bus, bikeshare, carshares and electric scooters. With so many options, users receive a comprehensive experience.
24 million people currently travel around metropolitan São Paulo. To put things in perspective, this is only slightly more than the number of people living in the New York City metropolitan area. Needless to say, this is no small task for Quicko.
Even the United Nations projects the population of the São Paulo metropolitan area to continue growing steadily. This is following a 1.13 percent annual growth rate between 2015 and 2019.
Quicko’s future vision
Quicko is already doing market research in other large, densely-populated metropolitan areas such as London and Barcelona. This round will likely allow the company to continue its analysis as well as improve its product for the São Paulo market.
“Our goal is to make the user’s life smarter, easier and more convenient,” said co-founder Pedro Somma.
Smarter, easier and more convenient is something that everyone can use in this modern, complex world. Especially with the recent surges in the usage of bikeshares and electric scooters in the mobility market.
“We seek to transform the user experience with data. Soon we should launch a solution that provides real-time information about what is happening in transportation,” Somma also said.
Personally, I tend to fall right in line with Somma’s vision regarding the rapidly growing and changing mobility market!
-RD