Meet Vianova, a French startup that’s building a data platform for shared mobility companies as well as local governments. The company acts as a data warehouse and data visualization dashboard.
A $6.4 million (€6 million) Series A funding round led by Baloise VC with XAnge, as well as existing investors RATP Capital Innovation and Ponooc.
Many cities have changed dramatically with the arrival of free-floating bikes, electric scooters, moped scooters and cars that you can unlock with your phone. Cities have also changed their regulations over time and are embracing micromobility in different ways.
The good news is that these mobility devices all have some connection to a GPS chip and cellular modem. In other words, companies and local governments can use data to make those services more efficient and safer for the people who use them and other people who live in these cities.
Image Credits: Vianova
Vianova now tracks 1 million connected vehicles on its platform. Some companies use the platform to manage their fleet and ensure the vehicles are in the right place at the right time.
Policy makers and data scientists can use this platform to find some trends. It can be used to improve infrastructure, create slow speed zones or parking lots through geofencing and more.
All of this can be done through a SimCity-like dashboard with map overlays and real-time data. The idea is to use Vianova as a real-time dashboard and analytics tool to generate historical reports and see how well you’re doing – whether it’s a moving company or a local government.
But without any data, an analytics tool is of little use. That’s why you can combine your own data with different mobility data sources. This could be especially interesting for cities that want to get data from private companies to better understand what’s going on.
For example, the City of Stockholm and Voi both use Vianova to improve shared mobility services in the city. Mobile companies decide who they want to share their data with.
Vianova uses APIs to fetch data from mobility operators so you can see live data on the platform. Data may be aggregated and de-identified.
Vianova’s customers include the cities of Zurich, Amsterdam, Stockholm and Marseille, as well as mobility operators such as Bolt and Voi. Some large infrastructure companies are also using the platform, such as RATP, Aéroports de Paris and KTH University.
