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MaaS Finland to Revolutionize Global Transport Market

[ February 10, 2016   //   ]

MaaS Finland, the world’s first mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) company, commenced operations on February 1, raising a total of $2.48 million in its first call for funding from private investors and the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation Tekes.
Sampo Hietanen, MaaS Finland’s CEO and the original developer of the concept, has set a clear goal for himself: to reshape the world’s transportation markets. Globally, transportation is the largest consumer market in the world, second only to housing.
“Next, digitization will reshape the transportation industry. Our grand goal is to pull a ‘Finnish Netflix’ in transportation and change the way people use transport services. In a couple of years, MaaS will either be Finland’s new Nokia and a major employer or I’ll be out of work,” remarked Hietanen.
The Government’s ambition is to turn Finland into a pioneer of smart digitized transportation and make it a major export product.
“We need to seize this opportunity and move ahead quickly before somebody else beats us to it with a competing concept,” warned Hietanen.
Hietanen was pleasantly surprised by the keen interest in MaaS shown by international players with the number of potential investors exceeding the stock available.
“With the funding we’ve now secured, we want to finalize the product and demonstrate in three countries that it’s possible to create personalised mobility services plans and that people are willing to buy them,” he said.
A second investment round will be launched in late autumn this year in an attempt to raise hundreds of millions. “Global expansion calls for bigger muscles. We’ve got several shareholders who’ll be able to help us along,” he said.

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