OREANDA-NEWS. September 05, 2014. moovel GmbH announced today that it has acquired a 100% holding in Intelligent Apps GmbH, the operator of the popular mytaxi taxi booking app. moovel GmbH also announced the acquisition of RideScout, the leading app-based mobility platform in North America, dedicated to allowing users to search and compare ground transportation options on demand.

All companies concerned will continue to operate independently from their current business locations. With these acquisitions, moovel GmbH consolidates its presence in the international mobility market and accelerates its development on the way to becoming a global player.

With the acquisition of Intelligent Apps GmbH, moovel GmbH plans to accelerate the international expansion of the taxi booking app and intensify collaborative product development. Launched in 2009, mytaxi is the world’s first app to enable direct con-nections between taxi users and taxi drivers. With a global volume of more than ten million downloads, mytaxi is the front runner in the field of taxi booking apps. At the beginning of 2012, then under the name of car2go GmbH, moovel GmbH already acquired a holding in mytaxi.

“We are very pleased to welcome mytaxi and RideScout as new members of the moovel family”, reports Robert Henrich, CEO at moovel GmbH. “The acquisition of RideScout and Intelligent Apps pushes our global strategy a significant step forward. We are investing in the development and growth of urban mobility in Germany, North America and other parts of the world. Our mutual objectives are the expansion of our leadership role on the international market and to continue our pioneering efforts to simplify the future of mobility”.

The company’s moovel mobility platform already enables customers to compare the prices and journey times of various mobility providers – such as car2go, public transport, taxis, rail, ridesharing and even rental bikes. As it allows the optimization of classic travel management, the service is also utilized in a corporate context and not only by private customers. mytaxi has been integrated in the moovel mobility platform since February 2013. The moovel brand car2go is well on the way to becoming the world’s largest car sharing provider: currently, more than 850,000 customers in 26 cities already use the white and blue smart fortwo cars. mytaxi is the second integrated mobility solution after car2go. This means that customers can book both car2go vehicles and independent taxis directly with the moovel App. Today, these two services already have a total customer volume of several million users.

“Our aim is to make mobility as simple as possible. This is why we are committed to the ongoing and international promotion of connecting mobility services – in future, including booking and cashless payment for all important transportation modes”, explains Robert Henrich, CEO at moovel GmbH, and adds, with particular regard to the taxi segment, “The acquisition of mytaxi and our existing holding in Blacklane, the rapidly growing limousine booking service, is by no means an attack on established taxi operators. Quite the opposite, we would like to invite the taxi operators to work in close partnership with moovel and mytaxi to exploit the potentials and opportunities offered by mobile Internet services. In this light, the coming months will see us concentrating intensely on close collaboration with the taxi operators.”

The two founders of mytaxi, Jan-Niclaus Mewes (CEO) and Sven Johannes Kulper (CMO) are particularly excited about the acquisition through moovel, and see it as a move that will enable even stronger growth of mytaxi in existing and new cities.

“With moovel, a pioneer in the field of innovative mobility services, we now have the ideal partner for mytaxi and our team. The existing close collaboration confirms that we are a perfect match. We share the same visions and a burning passion for the issues of new and advanced mobility concepts”, explains Niclaus Mewes, CEO at mytaxi. “With moovel behind us, we are now an enormous step closer to the realiza-tion of our vision of becoming the biggest and best taxi app – not only in Europe, but around the world”.

RideScout is managed by Joseph Kopser and Craig Cummings, who founded the company in 2011. Offering more than 300 mobility providers for users to choose from a one-stop mobile application, RideScout is available in 69 cities in North America.  Following the acquisition, RideScout will operate as a subsidiary of car2go North America and will continue to operate out of the company’s headquarters in Austin, Texas. Joseph Kopser and Craig Cummings, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Strategy Officer, will continue to manage the business.

"Robert Henrich and I share a vision for a better future in mobility for all - one where people travel from place to place seamlessly, rethinking the definition of car owner-ship.  I am thrilled that RideScout is working with car2go to expand this vision," said Joseph Kopser, Co-Founder and CEO of RideScout. "Our partnership enables us to build a better product for our users and our customers, helping people make better transportation decisions in an emerging transportation marketplace and improving quality of life for all."