Have you been incentivized for your transit or parking charges? Yes, it’s now possible and the solution is brought by Alex, Ian, and Tov. The Trio introduced a Validated App, which allows the business or enterprises to attract consumers to increase sales and revenues but at the same time save money for the customer parking or transportation.
Validated App rewards users for supporting the business by cashback or offers in lieu of using their services, advertisements, establishments or by scanning and loading their receipts as proof of purchase.
Validated at a Glance:
| Business idea | App to reimburse Parking or transportation charges |
| Founder | Alex Wilhelm, Ian Lyman, and Tov Arneson. |
| Asked for | $250,000 for 8% |
| Accepted deal | Nonecal |
| Sharks | No Sharks |
| Business status | Out of business/ acquired |
| Episode | Season 8 Episode 21 |
| Website | Validated |
Index:
Founder Story:
Validated App was invented by the trio of Alex Wilhelm, Ian Lyman, and Tov Arneson. The whole idea took shape of an app when both Tov and Ian were working on the creation of on Demand Parking app for almost two years. Validated App was then brought some of the core services by the creators to bring value for customers and business to monetize it.
The product uses the business in local areas that are able to provide offers when customers spend a minimum requirement with them, either by sharing purchase receipts, visiting establishments that allow users to collect credits and get their parking or transportation services paid by the participating business.
Did Validated get a deal on shark tank?
Ian, Tov, and Alex entered the Shark Tank episode to seek an investment of $250,000 for an 8% stake in their business. Mark Cuban states the trio are nerdy with glasses and similar haircuts. Ian is the first one to explain the concept of allowing benefits of parking charges to be waived if they shop or eat at their establishments.
The app allows the consumers to check for which businesses are willing to cover their transportation costs. One must understand what’s the business minimum requirements to meet this credit eligibility to benefit the consumers, that’s exactly what Validate App offers. The trio demonstrates the product to the sharks also.
Barbara questioned the business model as to why a person buying an expensive dress would be worried about a parking fee if there was any motivation. The trio did explain that if the users had shopped in different establishments, they could avail further credits and can use them in their trips. Trio responded to Chris, while the concept was introduced in Seattle and Portland with 50 merchants in the program and half of them already providing validations to their customers.
Barbara, Mark, and Kevin found the model to be complicated as it used the Merchants tie up and requested customers to post details on their app to reconcile and then earn credits. This was cumbersome and did not bring enough push to consumers as other business models bring such credits on ease of a single click of a button to get parking fees or rides included.
With more and more users preferring online mode this business model was tough to survive, as per sharks. Post QR code analysis Chris was also out. Finally, all the sharks pulled out due to more complexity in the business model and less potential to grow. The validated team had to leave without a deal.
What happened to Validated after shark tank?
The company did see an expansion as they spread from 2 cities to additional cities New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Chicago. Validated achieved more connectivity with more support services like Uber, Lyft, etc.
The trio has learned their lessons from the shark tank episode, added mobility points and got rid of the QR codes, and allowed users for credits once the receipt scan is completed. Allows Users to redeem points/credits for the minimum spend applicable with businesses. Reach Now has taken over the Validated company.
What is the networth of Validated?
At the time of the shark tank appearance, Validated was valued at around $3.12 million as per the founder.
Is Validated still in business?
No, Validated is no longer is in business now. They have been acquired by Reach Now Moovel services hosted by BMW. Validate got acquired by reach Now Moovel, used as their sharing app for car services. Now the Reach Now will also be discontinued on 31 March 2022 and replaced by FREE NOW. The app is more elaborate and spread across various options like Cars, Taxis, e-Scooters, rental cars across 170 countries worldwide.
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What is Validated ?
The Trio introduced a Validated App, which allows the business or enterprises to attract consumers to increase sales and revenues but at the same time save money for the customer parking or transportation.
Did Validated get a deal on shark tank?
Unfortunately, the Validated team had to leave without a deal.