Built a parking app that generated 18,000+ MAU and secured Car2Go, the world's leading car-sharing service, as our first client.
Starting point
Today, close to a million people will park their car on the island of Montréal. They will spend a total of 60k hours looking for a space. Not to mention that 5000 lucky Montréalers will have a gift on their windshield this evening.
It's unfortunate, as most of the time, this doesn't stem from a bad intention. This is why we started Prkng, aiming to solve what felt like two simple challenges: Am I allowed to park here? And when am I supposed to move my car?
With a clear idea and a simple prototype, we secured a pre-seed round of $200,000, empowering us to build a team of five.
Product design vision
We were aware from the start that users would be in the driver's seat while using the app — and all their attention should be dedicated to their surrounding. That's why we aimed for the app to be incredibly simple: We streamlined layers of information to allow key information to shine, ensuring users can easily pick up where they left off.
Upon opening the app, you instantly see available parking around you. Check-in with a simple tap, and we even send you reminders to avoid a ticket.
Advancing knowledge in mobility
With a strategic media push, we reached the 10,000 users mark within the first week of launch. In just a year, we achieved 65,000+ users, averaging 13,000 weekly active users and 2,000 check-ins per day.
Leveraging our API and collected data, we positioned Prkng as a valuable player in the intelligent transportation sector, contributing to a better understanding of local traffic tendencies for the benefit of the city and a wide range of stakeholders.
Forging partnerships
Our API-driven approach not only enabled us to launch cities much faster, but it also formed the basis of our monetization strategies. The car industry had recognized that software and data were as important to their future as wheels and energy.
A few months after, Tesla Quebec saw the potential and asked us to build an app for their member , providing access to both parking information and charging stations. We secured our first enterprise client, Car2Go, the world's leading car-sharing service.
We utilized real-time information through our API, allowing them to manage their fleet parked in unauthorized places and mitigate the risk of receiving a ticket.
Driving Innovation and expansion
Passionate about car-sharing and recognizing its transformative impact on urban mobility, we crafted a tailored experience for car-sharing drivers. We also launched two essential features: support for residential permits and a snow removal schedule.
Montréal served as our testing ground, and following a successful debut, we expanded to New York City, Seattle, Boston, and Quebec City within our first year.
The end of a roadtrip
With the available open data, we crafted the most user-friendly parking app — However, we relied on data updated by public entities, and in the case of Montréal, its accuracy diminished over time.
Balancing a free B2C app with a B2B service to generate revenue for urban assets that are often public posed a significant challenge. Developing IP and innovative solutions that bypass public data was time-consuming and became a barrier to our growth model.
Despite the success story in Montréal and our established partnerships, we struggled to convince investors that replicating this success globally was easily achievable, highlighting the limitations of relying solely on a regional strategy for our model.
Prkng is now an open source project – It’s the best way for us to share our knowledge and help new communities. Even today, we continue to receive many requests about the service. It warms our hearts to know that other entrepreneurs will benefit from Prkng's insights.
However, suggesting where to park your car introduces a whole new set of challenges compared to those faced by GPS apps. These challenges are complex and diverse, and as you may be aware, no one has completely solved the car mobility puzzle yet.
Built a parking app that generated 18,000+ MAU and secured Car2Go, the world's leading car-sharing service, as our first client.
Co-founder. 2014
Product strategy. Product design. User research. Branding.
Summary
Today, close to a million people will park their car on the island of Montréal. They will spend a total of 60k hours looking for a space. Not to mention that 5000 lucky Montréalers will have a gift on their windshield this evening.
Motivated by these common dilemmas — we launched Prkng. With a clear idea and a simple prototype, we secured a pre-seed round of $200,000. Our efforts have since resonated with over 65,000 users, boasting an impressive average of 18,000 monthly active users.
Read case study
Leveraging our API and collected data, we positioned Prkng as a valuable player in the intelligent transportation sector. Our API-driven approach not only enabled us to launch cities much faster, but it also formed the basis of our monetization strategies.
Co-founders: Arnaud Spuhler, Samuel Mehenni. Teams: Antonino Urbano, iOS. Jacob Cook, Backend. Mudar Nufal, Android.
Advisors: In Sunwoo, Nicolas Delffon, Nicolas Dang, Matthieu Houle.