Karhoo, the B2B marketplace platform for mobility is increasing its leading position on the market with a bigger network of dispatch solution provider partners for the taxi and PHV industry

The mobility market is only at the very beginning of its digital transformation, perfectly illustrated through the development of the “technological catalyst” Karhoo, a startup funded by the Renault Group.

Karhoo is an aggregator of mobility solutions; its platform connects PHV and taxi fleets across the world with customers of reputed travel and hospitality brands.

With the drop of demand for taxi/PHV services during the COVID-19 pandemic, Karhoo has focused its activity in the development of its geographic coverage in Europe and North Americathrough numerous technical  integrations with dispatch solution provider partners – platforms which enables taxi/ PHV companies to efficiently manage their vehicles and customer services. Karhoo is also announcing the publication of a White Paper on digital distribution of mobillity, designed as a reference source for taxi and PHV operators.

“In the month of March 2021 alone, Karhoo has implemented 25 new integrations, opening the marketplace to hundreds of taxi/PHV fleets who can now better promote their services to millions of potential customers when leisure and business travel resumes.“

A service provider that values nationwide and local fleets by enabling them to “digitally connect”

Thanks to its global intermediation platform, Karhoo creates more business opportunities for mobility providers of all sizes and shapes. And any organisation or business can add ride hailing and booking into their digital platforms, under their brand and with a seamless user experience. Nationwide and local fleets can therefore be more visible to a wider range of customers that would be difficult to address otherwise. In addition, fleets will receive the full expected fare for the journey, since the cost of using the Karhoo  is paid by the customer for the convenience of booking through their favorite channel.

Karhoo in a few key statistics

• Trusted by 3,000 fleets, representing 2 million vehicles
• Available in 1,500 cities in 125 different countries

A White Paper to discover the benefits of using an intermediation platform

Karhoo has published a White Paper as a reference for taxi and PHV fleets. It highlights the advantages of using intermediation platforms for mobility, similar to what is happening in sectors such as Travel and Hospitality(Global Distribution Systems) and e-commerce (multi-channel distribution solutions).  It demonstrates the benefits of unifying the fragmented technological environment of the taxi/PHV industry, and of implementing digital strategies enabled by the model.

This innovative model is particularly relevant for smaller and mid-size fleets because it enables both the technology and the marketing strategies usually only available to larger fleet operators and aggregators, such as Uber, Bold and alike.

The White Paper can be downloaded for free by clicking on the following link: https://www.karhoo.com/whitepaper-gds-mobility/.

An example of a successful partnership: Karhoo and the SNCF (French National Railway Company)

As a trusted partner of SNCF for two years for the “Mon Chauffeur” service, Karhoo powers the booking of transfer services to and from SNCF train stations via the Oui.sncf portal, for journeys scheduled of up to 12 months in advance. The platform is also used for SNCF Mobility as a Service (MaaS) mobile app: “L’Assistant  SNCF”. Hence, SNCF is able to provide reliable first and last mile transport services to their customers, for a better traveller experience and under their brand.

The service is already supporting several hundred bookings per day.

“Karhoo is enabling first and last mile ride options for our clients using the SNCF train booking portal for pre-booking and the new MaaS mobile app for on-demand. The Karhoo Mobility Exchange product combined with the reactive support from their teams of industry experts allowed us to launch the service much quicker than if we had to sign agreements with individual fleets and implement multiple technical integrations.” says Damien Wattez, Head of New mobility and MaaS Product at SNCF

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-rJd70f14k

Ever more partnerships

Karhoo connects businesses, brands and organisations that attract millions of travellers, along with thousands of mobility providers who employ millions of drivers across the globe.

The platform has already been trusted and used by companies such as the SNCF (France), Thalys (Pan-European), Renfe (Spain), Trainline (United Kingdom) and Booking.com (global) to provide their clients with door-to-door travel experiences.

Karhoo is constantly on-boarding new partners such as Trip.com / Ctrip (with 300 million members), Fareportal (US-based comparator), Mobee Travel (holiday booking service specifically designed for those with access needs), as well as Lyko (multimodal transport services for airport transfers).

In their development plans, Karhoo is extending their coverage by integrating new nationwide networks and local providers into the platform, focusing on eco-friendly electric vehicle fleets in order to meet brands and end-customer expectations.

About the founders, Boris Pilichowski and Nicolas Andine

Boris Pilichowski and Nicolas Andine have created Karhoo leveraging assets from a taxi comparator mobile application (of the same name) which failed on the highly competitive e-hailing market. With a clear vision and a positioning on B2B mobility intermediation, Boris and Nicolas incorporated Karhoo in 2017 in partnership with the Renault Group.

In a market-leading position in terms of number of connected dispatch systems, Karhoo offers a unique business model:

• White label proposition, i.e. Karhoo is not visible to passengers who only know of the partnering companies, brands and providers that they interact with.
• End-to-end management of journeys, from the initial ride request until the final fare and commissions payout to the involved parties.
• Off-the-shelf ride booking solutions and customised integrations via API and SDK.

Boris Pilichowski and Nicolas Andine aspire to make Karhoo the leading platform of B2B mobility distribution in the next few years.

They will follow three axes of development: (1) connections with partnering companies to generate demand (2) connections to mobility providers to match supply with offer demand (2) packaged products that simplify connections and optimise transactions on the marketplace.

Equally, they will continue to nurture the strong employee values that support its Karhoo positioning and guide towards its success:

Transparency: Until now, Transport and MaaS (Mobility-as-a-Service) are quite fragmented and opaque markets. The consumer does not always know if what they are paying for is for a reasonable price; algorithmic pricing is continuing to worsen the problem of this lack of understanding. Karhoo aims to show all relevant information to both the consumer as well as to its partners, in order to build trust towards service and brands.

Entrepreneurship: Karhoo helps entrepreneurs access global demand in trustworthy partnership. This translates into concrete support for accelerated digitalisation through the integration on Karhoo’s global mobility platform.

Responsibility: The company is driven to stimulate virtuous business, make sure that local regulations are respected and promote existing businesses in order to help them compete with aggressive disruptors.