Do people call you a screwdriver because of your distinguished parking skills? Does your EX work in a towing company?
Appy Parking (now AppyWay) takes care of one of the above problems. It will direct you to the closest and safest parking spot in real-time but unfortunately, your EX is going to tow you and your car anyway.
Parking cars are one thing but did Appy Parkings get the Dragons to park their money with it?
Appy Parking at a Glance:
| Idea | Parking service for drivers, selling parking data |
| Founders | Dan Hubert |
| Asked For | £200,000 For 2% |
| Accepted Deal | Did not accept the deal |
| Dragons | none |
| Business status | Active |
| Episode No. | Season 14, Episode 7 |
Index:
What is Appy Parking?
Appy Parking (now AppyWay) is a British parking service. It provides an app-based solution to its customers that displays on and off-road parking options in multiple cities in the UK.
It also provides a subscription-based service mainly for businesses with a separate solution altogether for government authorities.
Appy Parking can display parking space to its users in real-time with the help of sensory infrastructure which it equips in any region before commencing operations.
It is also a data-providing company as it has continued growing access to parking data that is of use to government agencies, real estate firms, advertisement agencies, etc. It has grown into a multimillion-pound company in just over a decade.
Who is the Founder of Appy Parking?
Dan Hubert founded Appy Parking in 2012. He has a bachelor’s degree in Advertising and Graphics from the University of the Arts, London. He served as an art director in renowned advertising companies for six years before he founded the company.
As of May 2023, Dan continues to serve as the CEO of Appy Parking. The company has seen steady growth under his leadership.
Did Appy Parking get a deal on Dragon’s Den?
Dan dashed into the Den with absolute confidence and a noteworthy yellow bow tie asking the Dragons to invest in his company at a seemingly obnoxious valuation of £10 million.
The Dragons got normalized with the valuation when Dan explained his business model in detail.
Appy Parking had already raised £1.2 million from angel and institutional investors at a valuation of £4 million.
After a tough round of questionnaires, Dragons started exiting the deal upon concluding that the business was doing great already, rendering them useless.
However, Peter Jones was highly attracted to the tech company. Subsequently, Nick Jenkins and Peter made Dan a combined offer of £200,000 in exchange for a 20% stake in the company.
The two sides were too far off to reach a settlement, Dan walked out of the Den empty-handed in monetary terms.
What happened to Appy Parking after Dragon’s Den?
Appy Parking’s user base increased substantially due to the exposure it garnered from airing of the episode or simply put the Dragon’s Den effect.
The company grew enormously in the B2B segment as well. Dan’s decision to walk out from the Den instead of accepting lowball offers seems to have paid off.
The company’s revenue has seen excellent growth which dwarfed the targets set by the founder himself in the Den. It has received a huge amount of funding from venture capital firms such as West Hill Capital, the automobile manufacturer Hyundai and also from Aviva Ventures which is known to back IoT-based businesses.
According to the Appy Parking website, the parking service is also about to launch in Dublin, Ireland; making it the company’s first international foray.
As of now, the company offers three products for fleets and drivers:
- Driver Parking App
- Kerbside API
- B2B Solutions
It also offers three products for cities and operators:
- Digital Kerbside Management
- Smart Parking
- EV Solutions
Product Details:
- Driver Parking App is a real-time parking space locator.
- Kerbside API is a comprehensive parking and kerbside data set.
- B2B Solutions include parking solutions for businesses.
- It provides a cloud-based, digital traffic order management solution for city authorities.
- It provides data-based solutions for EV infrastructure.
Competitors of Appy Parking:
Appy Parking faces stiff competition from multiple other parking apps but none of them are as advanced or equipped as it is.
Another advantage that Appy Parking enjoys over its competitors is the sheer accuracy and quantity of data received by it through its on-the-ground equipment.
Below is the list of some other parking space locators in the UK:
- RingoJustPark
- Parkopedia
- YourParkingSpace
- INRIX ParkMe
What is the Net Worth of Appy Parking?
Before its featuring on the Den, Appy Parking had raised capital from angel and institutional investors at a valuation of £4 million. Dan put forward a valuation of £10 million to the Dragons.
However, Peter Jones and Nick Jenkins did not agree with the valuation.
In July 2019 Appy Parking closed a Series A round of investment worth £7.6 million from investors including Hyundai Motor Company and Sumitomo Corporation, led by London-based venture capital firm, West Hill Capital.
The company raised a total of £11 million in 2019 and was valued at £50 million after this round.
Is Appy Parking still in Business?
Yes, Appy Parking is still in business by the name of AppyWay. It has evolved from just a driver parking service to a complete parking solution not just for drivers but also for fleet owners, other businesses, and city authorities.
Appy Parking is slowly evolving into a comprehensive free space detection and utilization tool for densely populated and ever-expanding urban areas worldwide (hopefully!).
Appy Parking might seem just another parking space locator but it is not just that. The London-based firm is a data company above all which collects parking data of most urban areas of the UK 24×7.
This data is of immense value and it makes Appy Parking a really special company just like the US-based automobile manufacturer Tesla.
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FAQs:
What is the main consumer base of Appy Parking ?
The consumer base of Appy Parking includes average car drivers, fleet-owning businesses, and government/city authorities.
What's the net worth of Appy Parking?
In July 2019 the company closed a Series A round of investment worth £7.6 million from investors including Hyundai Motor Company and Sumitomo Corporation, led by London-based venture capital firm, West Hill Capital. The company raised £11 million in 2019 and was valued at £50 million after this round.