Ingogo, a mobile taxi booking and payment platform is looking to raise new capital and they are going big. Ingogo is using VentureCrowd to raise up to $4 million to help establish its App as the preeminent transportation network in Australia. The crowdfunding offer is part of a total funding round of $12 million led by UBS and Canaccord.
Forget @Uber – we review the locally-owned taxi apps you should be using http://t.co/HFrj30dmLP @IngogoSocial @goCatchApp
— The New Daily (@TheNewDailyAu) March 2, 2015
Ingogo has used VentureCrowd before. The young investment crowdfunding platform helped Ingogo raise $1.2 million as part of a larger $9.1 funding round in the fall of 2014. According to a report in AFR, in September 50 individual, accredited investors, pitched in to raise the $1.2 million. The minimum ticket was pretty accessible at $1000. Ingogo’s valuation was placed at $25 million in December of 2013. That valuation jumped to $45 million this past September. Ingogo founder Hamish Petrie stated at the time that startups had a choice: Either raise funds from multiple investors or go – overseas for funding. They decided to raise from Australians.
The current funding round, the details of which are closed to non-accredited investors, will close next month (May) and will set the pace for the equity crowdfunding industy – one that has been slow to take off due to legislative challenges.
Hamish was recently quoted in The Australian on the crowdfunding round,“VentureCrowd has helped ingogo reach a range of investors we simply wouldn’t reach through traditional channels and we’re pleased to be working with them again on this funding round.”
Jeremy Colless, CEO of VentureCrowd, was quoted on the funding of Integogo;
“We have already validated the value of equity crowdfunding in past investment rounds into high-growth companies such as Ingogo, but this latest round proves this investment method is here to stay.”
“Sophisticated investors are immensely interested in gaining access to opportunities they wouldn’t see elsewhere, that possibilities would increase immensely if legislative changes enabled retail investors to take part as well.”
Ingogo was created after Petrie suffered too many times the difficulty of hailing a cab. We have all been then. The antiquated process of yelling, whistling, waving to capture a driver’s attention has been begging for disruption. It just took UBER to make it all come true. Ingogo has partnered with Taxi firms to provide a more reliable service. Ingogo currently operates in the cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane but they expect the numbers of cities to grow soon.
Petrie believes one of the ways to improve the taxi industry is to deregulate the requirement that drivers be part of a network. If this took place a more UBER like environment would ensue in Australia. Petrie stated to AFR last May;
“One of the big changes we’d like to see the government make is to release the regulatory requirement for a taxi owner to have to belong to a network. A lot of the taxi networks are owned, or in some way affiliated with, Cabcharge.”
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