Daimler AG acquired Familonet Gmbh as part of its expanding mobility efforts.
Daimler AG continues to expand its portfolio of mobility companies with the acquisition of Familonet Gmbh, a startup company from Hamburg, Germany, which has created an app with more than 2 million registered users.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed but the moovel Group, a subsidiary of Daimler AG, acquired 100% of Familonet. In addition, personnel from Familonet will become part of the moovel Group’s development team in Hamburg. Daimler noted it was interested not only in the firm’s registered in users, but also the talent behind firm’s app.
“The expertise and skills of Familonet are an ideal addition to the moovel development team at the Hamburg site. Both the geo-fencing technology and the team of developers with location expertise are a major win for moovel,” said Oliver Wahlen, chief technology officer of moovel Group.
With the acquisition of Familonet, the number of moovel Group employees at the Hamburg site will rise to nearly 40. In total, more than 250 people work for moovel in Germany and the United States.
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The moovel Group is in the process creating what Daimler describes as an operating system for urban mobility that offers access to various mobility services – including booking and payment.
With the takeover of Familonet, which simplifies everyday communication for families and groups of friends, families and colleagues worldwide using intelligent geolocation functions – competencies in the area of geo-fencing and live locating can be used to develop solutions for the urban mobility of the future.
Familonet was founded in 2012 and won the MobileTech Award and Webfuture Award in 2014 as one of the most innovative German mobile companies. The site was named one of the best apps of 2016 on the Google Play Store by Google.
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The Familonet app is used by more than 2 million people worldwide. The core markets are Germany, U.S., Brazil, India and Turkey. TheFamilonet app will still be offered in app stores worldwide.
The moovel app and moovel transit product portfolio, which extend beyond the car-sharing services offered by companies such as Uber, are being used by more than 2.9 million users in Germany and the U.S. In the first half of 2017, more than 10 million transactions were conducted in total worldwide utilizing the moovel apps.
In Germany, the mobility app moovel is available to download free of charge from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.
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It combines local public transport, allowing users to access Daimler’s car-sharing provider, car2go, call for a taxi or rent a bike from Deutsche Bahn, the German railway system. Services can be booked and paid for simply and directly via the moovel app.