Estonian Development Fund invests in mobile payment solution business NOW! Innovations
Estonian Development Fund in collaboration with private co-investors have provided 1.5 million euros of funding to the Estonian firm NOW! Innovations Ltd., which develops mobile payment solutions. NOW! Innovations has developed a payment platform for parking and other purposes, already operational in a number of countries.
The company's main market is the United States, where the ParkNOW! mobile parking service is among the market leaders. The largest client of the company is Montgomery County in Greater Washington D.C., which is also with more then 14 000 parking spaces the second largest mobile parking installation anywhere in the U.S. New installations are pending in a number of other markets, including Russia, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Mexico, and Singapore.
According to Heidi Kakko, the Head of Investment Division at the Estonian Development Fund, the mobile parking market is still in the early development stages in most markets, unlike in Estonia and a few other European countries, where up to 90% of all parking sessions are paid with a mobile phone.
"We believe that the markets will be divided during the next five years. The biggest winners will be the companies with experience, offering a Solution as a Service. We bet on NOW! Innovations with its top quality platform and experience to become the market leader in the U.S. market. The size of the parking market in North America and Europe only is estimated at 65 billion dollars," Kakko said.
Kalju Rüütli, CEO and one of the founders of NOW! Innovations, added: "The ParkNOW! platform was built based on years of experience of providing IT services to large telecommunications companies and working together with major international parking operators. The platform is highly modular and flexible, thanks to which it was for example very smooth to adapt it to NFC technology."
NOW! Innovations was established in 2003, and it specializes on solutions for issuing mobile permits and tickets. It is among the five leading providers of mobile parking solutions in Europe and America. Last year it was selected the 13th most outstanding company in the world by Guidewire Group, a global market intelligence and advisory firm.
Estonian Development Fund has been established by the Estonian Parliament for promoting foresighted projects and investing in innovative ambitious Estonian technology enterprises. NOW! Innovations is the 12th investment in their portfolio.
According to Heidi Kakko, the Head of Investment Division at the Estonian Development Fund, the mobile parking market is still in the early development stages in most markets, unlike in Estonia and a few other European countries, where up to 90% of all parking sessions are paid with a mobile phone.
"We believe that the markets will be divided during the next five years. The biggest winners will be the companies with experience, offering a Solution as a Service. We bet on NOW! Innovations with its top quality platform and experience to become the market leader in the U.S. market. The size of the parking market in North America and Europe only is estimated at 65 billion dollars," Kakko said.
Kalju Rüütli, CEO and one of the founders of NOW! Innovations, added: "The ParkNOW! platform was built based on years of experience of providing IT services to large telecommunications companies and working together with major international parking operators. The platform is highly modular and flexible, thanks to which it was for example very smooth to adapt it to NFC technology."
NOW! Innovations was established in 2003, and it specializes on solutions for issuing mobile permits and tickets. It is among the five leading providers of mobile parking solutions in Europe and America. Last year it was selected the 13th most outstanding company in the world by Guidewire Group, a global market intelligence and advisory firm.
Estonian Development Fund has been established by the Estonian Parliament for promoting foresighted projects and investing in innovative ambitious Estonian technology enterprises. NOW! Innovations is the 12th investment in their portfolio.
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