Citymapper, the city transport app which ranks amongst Britain’s most distinguished client know-how corporations, is in talks to be purchased by a multibillion greenback New York-based rival.
Sky News has learnt that Citymapper, which launched in 2010, is in superior discussions a few takeover by Via Transportation.
City sources stated a deal could possibly be struck inside weeks, though there was no certainty that an settlement could be reached.
Any transaction could be prone to worth Citymapper at a fraction of the $325m it was reported to have raised funding at in 2016, they stated.
Via just lately secured $110m in new financing from traders at a valuation of $3.5bn, saying it will use the brand new capital “to expand its product suite and further its vision of providing the end-to-end digital infrastructure for public mobility”.
The US-based firm’s shareholders embody the London-based enterprise capital fund 83North.
Citymapper has been backed for years by well-known early-stage traders together with Balderton Capital and Index Ventures.
Its geographical protection contains scores of cities globally, making it a serious participant amongst city transit-related platforms.
Citymapper claims to have 50m customers around the globe.
Established in 2010 by Azmat Yusuf, a former Google worker, it pledged to handle a few of the entrenched challenges of city mobility.
Its app permits travellers in cities like London to purchase an built-in cross that can be utilized on public transport strategies together with buses and trains, in addition to private-hire autos similar to cabs and cycles.
In Europe, it has operated in locations similar to Barcelona, Copenhagen, Milan and Paris, whereas within the US it has had a presence in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.
The firm has additionally launched in Hong Kong, Melbourne and Tokyo.
The firm briefly experimented with working its personal bus service in London in an try and forge new income streams.
In 2020, it employed Raine Group, the New York-based service provider financial institution, to advise it on discussions with potential patrons which on the time included a few of the world’s largest know-how corporations.
At the time, Apple, Microsoft and Alphabet, the mother or father firm of Google, have been all touted as potential suitors.
That course of was quickly curtailed by the pandemic, nonetheless, when lockdowns had a devastating affect on city transit exercise.
In its accounts for the 12 months ended 31 December 2021, Citymapper stated it “continued to be impacted by Covid-19 with movement restrictions and work from home guidance still in force for much of the year, impacting revenue”.
“Despite this short-term impact, the long-term outlook is positive, with app engagement reaching an all-time high by the second half of 2021 and app usage returning to pre-pandemic levels and continuing to grow organically, subsequent to year-end.”
It added: “In addition to its consumer business lines, Citymapper is now uniquely placed to tackle the multibillion B2B [business-to-business” mobility know-how market.”
Citymapper stated it misplaced £7.4m, barely larger than the earlier 12 months’s lack of £6.4m, which it attributed to elevated workers and server prices.
It stated within the accounts that it had web property of £6.1m.
In 2021, it performed a crowdfunding spherical to strengthen its stability sheet, elevating £6m amid robust demand from traders.
That elevate appeared to happen at a valuation of simply over £190m.
A spokeswoman for Via declined to touch upon the talks, whereas neither Citymapper, its founder or Balderton Capital, which is represented on the Citymapper board, responded to a request for remark.
Source: information.sky.com”