Travelcar: car-sharing platform for free airport parking

TRAVELCAR, an original car-sharing platform: Financing a French Lean Start-up
 

Summary

TRAVELCAR is a lean start-up, created in 2012 by Ahmed MHIRI (28 years old, Franco-Tunisian). He is an expert in IT security and has developed projects for data dematerialization, electronic signatures and bibliometric passports in France. He had a promising career in his field. However, his dream was to become an entrepreneur, and his passion was to create companies. A passion well understood by his wife Maryam, a young researcher in the physical sciences, who did not hesitate to accompany her husband in the entrepreneurial adventure, alongside her profession.

At that time, Ahmed Mhiri was a frequent traveler. After his first unsuccessful and costly attempts, he had gained in entrepreneurial acuity. His sense of the match between his abilities and the needs of the market was sharpened, and his mind was on the lookout for opportunities. "To get started, I need to refocus on areas I'm passionate about but where I'd be the master on board, based on my skills." He explains to his wife. "The business has to represent me. The tourism sector and the travel industry through the web would be a good meeting point between my personality and my skills... All that remains is to innovate in the field! What can I do better? Where is there a need?"

Putting his travels into perspective, the young globetrotter has some food for thought. It seems illogical to him to immobilize his car when leaving on vacation to catch a plane. Ahmed estimates that his car is immobilized in a parking lot for around 95% of the time. "And the day I need to take it to the airport, I don't do it because parking is expensive!

TRAVELCAR enables Internet users to reserve a low-cost parking space and/or car-sharing service. The company's development is that of a lean start-up; in other words, since its creation and even if the beginnings are very promising, sales and profitability are not in line with liquidity requirements. Nevertheless, in a competitive environment, we need to expand on the Web and internationally. From a strategic point of view, learning from direct contact with the market will dictate the adjustment of the business model, and also allow for the parsimony of resources (lean strategy).

The initial idea was to provide an answer to two very simple problems that the young engineer had observed:

1. Parking a car at the airport when you leave on a trip is expensive.
2. Renting a car at your destination airport is expensive.

However, the same cars parked by different owners, or cars dedicated to rental, are immobilized in the same place, waiting to be used. The need for consumers is such that between 2013 and 2016, business grew by +500%. Half of the platform's users use the parking lot for 10 euros a day, without renting the vehicle. Customers who rent out their cars earn an average of around 300 euros a month.

The territory of activity was essentially in France and a little in Europe until 2017. This year was marked by a major opportunity in California, thanks in part to the powerful support of two partners, PSA and MAIF. Raising over 20 million euros in funding since the company's inception has made TRAVELCAR's success possible, and in 2016 sales began to reach significant levels, with around 3 million euros for 45 employees.