Member Article

Startup behind smart parking app launches £1 million crowdfunding campaign

London-based startup JustPark has today announced it is raising £1 million through equity crowdfunding platform Crowdcube.

The innovative app and website, which connects parking space owners with drivers looking for a convenient space, has recently doubled its gross profits and grown its annual booking revenue to £3.7 million

The startup, which is backed by Index Ventures and BMW, is now inviting users and members of the public via Crowdcube to join its journey as shareholders.

By setting a minimum investment amount of £10, London-based JustPark aims to encourage even the most modest investor to stake a claim in the company’s future growth.

The money raised during the equity crowdfunding campaign will be used to build JustPark’s community of users, both in the UK and around the world.

The company also plans to develop new technology to tackle the pain in parking, following its release last year of an in-car app in collaboration with BMW that let drivers manage the entire parking process directly from their dashboards for the first time.

New shareholders will join JustPark’s existing backers: BMW i Ventures, the venture capital arm of automotive giant BMW; and Index Ventures, one of Europe’s leading technology investors whose previous successes include Skype, Dropbox and Just-Eat.

Index Ventures will convert a loan of £50ok to shares at the same price per share as the crowd upon the successful completion of the crowdfunding campaign.

Anthony Eskinazi, founder of JustPark, says: “Parking is one of the most dysfunctional parts of city life. It’s stressful, inefficient and can be extortionately expensive.

“With JustPark, our users are providing each other with the solution to this headache, opening up their underused parking spaces to drivers and saving them approximately £8.5 million in parking costs so far.”

“Equity crowdfunding is the perfect way for JustPark to continue in the collaborative spirit that underpins the entire business. It allows us to work together with our most passionate users to build the business to greater heights.”

As well as quarterly briefings, JustPark’s new shareholders will be invited to annual gatherings - known as ‘ParkFests’ - complete with progress reports and afterparties.

Eskinazi adds: “We can’t wait to work with a new generation of JustPark investors to solve the parking headache together and make cities run more efficiently.”

Luke Lang, co-founder of Crowdcube, said: “Giving people the opportunity to invest in a tech startup backed by Index Ventures, one of Europe’s top venture capital firms, and BMW through Crowdcube is a very exciting prospect.

“We’ve seen a growing trend towards more established organisations with strong entrepreneurial teams opting to raise growth finance through Crowdcube.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .