10 years of digital parking management

It was with this expectation that our CEO, Johannes Asp, started looking for garage space in Stockholm one day in late autumn 2011. To his great surprise and frustration, he soon realized that there was no marketplace for free parking. Not only that, it was not at all possible to find a way to rent parking space - even on The Block he went bite.

This is where the idea was born for what, after a short and educational journey, would end up in the SaaS company Mobility46. But it started far from “Software as a Service”...

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John, when you think back to when you started the company ten years ago, what comes to mind then?

“It was a lot of fun at the beginning when there were so many emotional wallows and insights all the time, big steps, gaps that you clogged with knowledge. We had no idea how big, small or complex this could be. I can miss how naive one was at the time - we don't have an hour of business development in our luggage, we have ten years. ' --John

Johannes explains that the idea of a marketplace for renting parking would prove to be more difficult to implement than he and co-founder Pelle Sjögren first thought. After walking around counting garage doors in Stockholm in the evenings, and talking to the property owners about connecting them to their marketplace - Garagekoll.se - back in the days, they repeatedly got no. Property owners barely had a handle on how many places they had in their facilities - let alone a process of renting out vacancies to applicants from outside the property.

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From Marketplace to Parking Operator

Fast forward the band a few years and we find our other co-founder, Pelle Sjögren, with a thumbstick in Polhemsgaraget on Kungsholmen in Stockholm. He is in the process of measuring parking spaces to optimize the utilization and pricing of the assets.

“We wanted to help property owners get an overview - this is how the idea of becoming a parking operator was born”

— Pelle Sjögren

After it dawned on Pelle and Johannes that the property owners did not have the overview of their parking facilities needed to be able to offer rental services through Garagekoll.se, they took on the new challenge of managing the parking business. Garagekoll took the leap from marketplace to parking operator and became Parkando Technologies.

'We were understanding that the property owners didn't have a full overview of their parking spaces but still thought it was a shame they didn't invest in this - renting out the assets in full. So somewhere the idea of becoming a parking operator was born and helping them with that too.” --Clown

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A digital business system for parking management sees the light of day

This was the first time there was a lot of scrolling through contract lockers and tinkering in Excel, but soon they started streamlining administration with different systems - Scrive for digital contract signing, a proprietary billing system that automated invoicing, and a proprietary app solution for digital keys — three things that remain central to our digital ERP system for parking management, Park46.

In true entrepreneurial spirit, Johannes and Pelle did not stay here either, but they were responsive to the needs of the industry and grew with their customers:

“When we were a marketplace, we saw a need to be an operator, by being that, the need for charging stations and shared mobility arose and then Laddkoll and Elbilio were started. We have always been open to enabling ancillary services and products, which has meant that we have learned a lot and created a nice ecosystem that allows us to understand the big picture.” --John

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Things are starting to move in the real estate industry

If we rewind, we see that a lot has happened in the real estate industry. Digitization and flexible solutions are on the wallpaper. From the fact that property owners in 2012 were amazed that we used digital contract signing, to the fact that many people are instead surprised if today you are expected to sign and mail a paper contract. From the fact that it has been obvious that companies rent their office space to the fact that office hotels and co-working spaces are becoming more and more common.

'We've been making our journey during a time when technology has made a huge leap. And that's what we've been trying to capture all along, to keep up with the technology.” --Clown

With this in mind, it feels increasingly natural that parking management is also digitized and rental options updated with more flexible solutions. Electric car charging and shared mobility will soon be a matter of course for most park riders and property owners. The requirements for ease of use and flexibility may soon look the same for a parking subscription as for Spotify or Netflix.

“We found something 10 years ago that had great potential in changing the industry, and so we have dared and managed to hold on. It's so funny that we are now in the midst of that big industry change. Now, 10 years later, we see Klövern and Fabege — two large real estate companies with great reputation in such matters — step into our world and begin the optimization of their parking management. It means a lot of responsibility and completely different challenges than we had at the beginning, and that's very inspiring.” --Clown

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“It feels like we've arrived.”

All in all, the experiences from these years — with the journey from the user perspective in Garagekoll to the property owner perspective in Parkando (and the founding of Laddkoll and Elbilio) — have landed in a solid experience and an accumulated knowledge of a complete ecosystem for parking.

From Pelle and Johannes knocking on door and wearing all the hats themselves...

“Listen to the jingle we made for Garagekoll when we thought we could do marketing”

-- John Asp

... to the fact that we now have several large customers and a team of almost 20 experts in everything from electric car charging to product development, this is something that both founders highlight among their main highlights of the past years:

“We have very talented people - it's so inspiring to work with such a unique team. Last year's biggest highlight was lifting the team, which was a journey we started then and this year basically went to port with. In addition, to have signed three new enterprise customers - Klövern, Securitas and Fabege - in the same year, is the biggest highlight of 2021. Now it feels like we have arrived, that we are established.” --John

Pelle replenishes:

“It's so inspiring that now, after 10 years, we have found our place and get to be involved in pushing this improvement - our original vision - on a wide scale.” --Clown

10 years of digital parking management is just the beginning. The future is digital and we look forward to continuing to grow and drive the digital parking revolution with you for many years to come!

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John Asp & Pelle Sjogren