T-Venture, the venture capital arm of Deutsche Telekom, and e42, have invested in the taxi booking system 1TouchTaxi developed by German startup Intelligent Apps. The terms remain undisclosed.
Currently limited to Hamburg, 1TouchTaxi is a smartphone-based system that lets customers hail and book a taxi via the mobile web and the company’s Android and iPhone apps. The new funding from T-Venture and e42 will be used by 1TouchTaxi to roll out and establish the system in other German cities and to expand its feature set.
The taxi industry in Germany is estimated to exceed 3.7 billion Euros, and according to government statistics, more than 50,000 taxis serve over 400 million taxi fares a year. Combine this with the growth of smartphones, thought to reach over 8 million sold in Germany in 2010, and 1TouchTaxi and its new investors are hoping to cash in on what seems like a perfect storm.
As well as actually handling the booking, the 1TouchTaxi app is able to work out the passenger’s location via GPS and find the taxi within shortest range. Other features include access to information about the taxi, the driver, the time of arrival and expected fare price ahead of the actual taxi ride. Prior to the arrival of the taxi, the user can track its position on a map on their smartphone.
1TouchTaxi was launched in Hamburg in late March this year and so far about 450 taxi drivers are already using the system.