{"id":647826,"date":"2013-03-20T13:51:41","date_gmt":"2013-03-20T17:51:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gigaom.com\/?p=622384"},"modified":"2013-03-20T13:51:41","modified_gmt":"2013-03-20T17:51:41","slug":"bill-ford-yes-that-ford-invests-in-public-transit-backing-mobile-ticketing-firm-masabi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/647826","title":{"rendered":"Bill Ford (yes, that Ford) invests in public transit, backing mobile ticketing firm Masabi"},"content":{"rendered":"

Given Detroit\u2019s worship of the automobile, you wouldn\u2019t think public transit would be high on its priority list, but on Wednesday transit ticketing startup Masabi revealed that one of the automotive industry\u2019s most recognized names, Bill Ford, has taken a strategic and monetary interest in the company.<\/p>\n

Bill Ford is, of course, the great-grandson of Henry Ford<\/a>, and the executive chairman of the company that bears his name. He also co-founded a venture capital firm called Fontinalis Partners that focuses on next-generation mobile technologies. Fontinalis is leading a $2.8 million investment round in Masabi with participation form London\u2019s MMC Ventures and existing backer m8 Capital. The company has already gone through several funding rounds, raising $2 million in 2010<\/a> and $4 million in 2011<\/a>. m8 led both rounds.<\/p>\n

London-based Masabi said that the strategic investment is aimed at promoting its mobile ticketing technology to U.S. transit agencies, building off of its success in the U.K. (it has 13 transit contracts across the pond), and its recent deployment with Boston\u2019s Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority<\/a>. To date, the company claims it has processed $50 million in ticket sales worldwide and $3 million alone from the MBTA since its system went live in November.<\/p>\n

\"masabi\"<\/a>Masabi\u2019s key product is called JustRide, a cloud-based end-to-end ticketing platform that allows riders to purchase, manage and store transit tickets and passes in their mobile phones. Users can buy tickets from an app in their smartphones rather than wait in ticket lines. For train systems with conductors, the tickets show up as animated watermarks easily identified by ticket takers. For automated ticket systems, the app will display a QR code that will get you through the turnstile. Masabi is also upgrading its software to support near-field communications (NFC) in the future.<\/p>\n

Boston, for instance, still utilizes smart card ticketing \u2013 which also can be linked to JustRide platform \u2013 but the gradual move of its smartphone-toting ridership to the cloud-based ticketing service saves it millions of dollars in ticketing machine and backend infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Though smartphone-initiated mobile payments haven\u2019t exactly taken off in the U.S., transit ticketing is starting to become a key component of the digital wallet. The carriers\u2019 mobile wallet Isis<\/a> may still be limited to two cities, but it\u2019s become popular as a mobile pass for Salt Lake City\u2019s public transit system<\/a>. Amtrak has started accepting digital tickets on the iPhone<\/a>, and all of the major airlines now have boarding pass features<\/a> in their apps.<\/p>\n

As for Ford\u2019s interest in public transit technologies, the chairman appears to be throwing his money in the same direction as his rhetoric. Ford has spoken several times about how, at the current rate of growth, the number of cars on the world\u2019s highways would soon lead to massive congestion problems. His proposed answer is coordination between public transit and intelligent traffic management systems<\/a> to better control of the flow of billions of people as they go about their daily lives.<\/p>\n

Fontinalis has invested in many startups designed to make cars smarter such as Streetline<\/a>,\u00a0Life360<\/a>\u00a0and Parkmobile,\u00a0but it\u2019s also invested in companies like Masabi and Wheelz<\/a>,\u00a0which go against Ford\u2019s vested interest in individual car ownership.<\/p>\n

Bill Ford image courtesy\u00a0jurvetson<\/a> via Compfight<\/a> cc<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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