为企业提供Uber式按需服务,Bringg获500万美元A轮投资
为企业提供按需服务的创企Bringg目前A轮融资500万美元。
这家创企计划用这笔资金推动其网页和移动平台进入按需领域,提供企业类似于实时驾驶追踪、派件、警报、移动信息等服务。
截至目前,Bringg已共计获得了750万美元的投资。这家办公场所设立在特拉维夫和纽约的创企已将业务扩张到了50多个国家(包括欧洲、亚洲和非洲),共拥有数百位客户。
Bringg创办于2013年,由首席执行官Raanan Cohen和首席技术官Lior Sion联合创办。前者是通信企业MobileMax的前创始人兼首席执行官;后者是以色列叫车服务GetTaxi和在线项目管理软件Clarizen.com的前首席技术官。
Bringg可以为企业提供当今顾客所需的Uber类配送服务的操作技术,例如司机可以在行驶的同时提供配送服务、接收短信提醒和追踪快件等等。
从商业层面讲,Bringg整合了现有系统的功能,例如网络和移动派件、快件追踪、司机和客户间的交流应用、收集签名等。
这家创企还和一些更小规模的公司展开了合作,例如食品配送服务Lish和Zuppler。此外,Bringg发现企业市场——即已拥有1000名以上配送司机的企业更有市场发展潜力,其中包括想和亚马逊一较高下的大型零售商、服务提供商和家庭配送企业。
联合创始人表示Bringg的目标受众正是这些已具备配送服务但仍想扩大市场份额的大企业。
如今Bringg已拥有近24个大企业级用户,本轮融资将用于扩大企业在美国和以色列的18人团队以及提升服务内容(包括整合按需订购系统功能在内),进一步扩大市场份额,吸引更多大型机构进行合作。
Bringg Lets Any Business Offer Uber-Like Experiences To Their Customers
Uber has set the standard for mobile transportation apps, allowing customers to order, pay for and view their driver’s location right from their mobile device. Now, a new startup called Bringg wants to offer a similar level of visibility for any delivery-based service or those with drivers en route – whether that’s a mom-and-pop dry cleaner making their daily runs, restaurants making deliveries, or even service technicians heading out on calls.
The company was founded in 2013 by Raanan Cohen (CEO), the former founder and CEO of MobileMax; and Lion Sion (CTO), previously the CTO of GetTaxi and Clarizen.com. Bringg has been operating in a beta period over the past six months, testing the service with a handful of customers representing different types of businesses, including food-delivery services Lish and Zuppler, for example. It’s now launching to the public.
Explains Sion, the two co-founders had discussed the idea for Bringg as far back as two years ago while lamenting over the fact that the revolution that came about with transportation apps, like Uber or GetTaxi, hadn’t yet translated itself into other areas.
“Why is it that when I’m ordering pizza for my kids, we don’t know when the delivery person is coming, exactly?,” Raanan complained to his friend.
Recalls Sion, “he said, why is it that the same solution you have with taxis – why is it not yet out there for others?”
So the two began working to develop a way for any company to integrate an on-demand service offering an Uber-like user experience into their own products – web, mobile or otherwise. With Bringg, the idea is not to create consumer-facing mobile applications similar to Uber’s, but instead to allow a business to communicate with customers about the status of their driver’s whereabouts however they see fit.
Businesses can opt to use Bringg’s web-based interface, its APIs and mobile SDKs for iOS, Android and JavaScript, or any combination they like. For example, a company could choose to send out an email or SMS containing a link that popped open an HTML5 web page that showed the driver en route in real time. Or the company could choose to integrate Bringg’s SDK into its own native mobile app, if one already existed.
Bringg’s technology stops short of handling order processing and payments. However, it’s able to integrate with a number of point-of-sale solutions, as well as online and offline ordering solutions, notes Sion. The service is sold on a software-as-a-service basis to customers starting at $10 per month per driver. A $20 per month per driver option is also available, which allows businesses to further customize the service – for example, branding it with their own logos or customizing the SMS messages customers receive.
Meanwhile, on the business owners’ side, Bringg offers reporting features that help them gain insight into their deliveries, as they’re able to see things like how long deliveries take, or distances traveled, and more. Businesses can also manage and dispatch drivers, and track them in real time.
During the company’s beta period, Bringg found that they didn’t have to sell businesses on the concept of what they were offering, which is something that surprised them, says Sion.
“We thought we’d still be trying to convince people that on-demand is happening and it’s something you need to do,” he says. “But it turns out, everybody gets it…it was very easy to get people to join.” The company hasn’t yet done much PR or marketing, but already has 100 developers working with its products.
“People just heard about us and came,” Sion says.
Headquartered in Israel, but now expanding to New York, Bringg is a 13-person team and is backed by $2.5 million in funding from strategic partner ITURAN, a fleet-management company.
Source:TC
编译:孙媛
Uber
2015年12月18日
Uber
Gigster 获 1000 万美元 A 轮融资,想做软件开发的 Uber
按需软件开发服务初创企业Gigster今天获得了1000 万美元的 A 轮融资。
Gigster 是一家为缺乏内部研发团队的企业和初创企业提供软件开发与设计解决方案的初创企业,2年 前进入了 YC 加速器计划,今年刚刚毕业,目前总部位于旧金山。其概念很简单,就像 Uber 把司机与乘客联系在一起一样,Gigster 把自由职业的程序员、设计师与有软件开发需求的公司联系在一起。
客户可以从他们罗列的各种模板和功能列表上进行选择,然后对所需软件进行建模,Gigster 则会马上利用人工智能,基于先前项目所需的项目经理、开发者以及设计师的情况对项目实现进行估算并给出报价,客户同意后由 Gigster 雇佣自由职业者完成项目。目前 Gigster 拥有 350 人的自由职业者队伍,其中不少是 Facebook、Google、微软等大公司的前雇员或现雇员。
从某种意义上来说,Gigster 相当于软件开发的 Uber,或者是进化版的项目承包。对于那些有需求有创意但缺乏能力的企业 / 初创企业来说,Gigster 相当于他们的工程部,帮他们解决了编码(缺乏开发经验)、招聘(人才难找)、项目管理(很多麻烦要处理)等方面的问题,替其节省不少的时间和成本。
当然,以之前的项目经验去估算项目也存在一些不可预知的风险。因为根据软件估算的五大定律,估算是不可互换的,而且往往是错的,根据估算制定的合同对于参与各方都有可能造成损失。此外,如果这些 “自由职业者” 包括 IT 公司的现有员工,那么这些人的工作可能也会存在一些模糊地带,给他们的雇主造成影响。还有就是对于提供软件需求和实现创意的这些公司来说,也会存在创意被窃取的或山寨的风险。但是跟 Uber 一样,Gigster 这类的公司有可能颠覆 IT 行业的组织和做事方式,还是值得观察的。
此轮融资由 Andreessen Horowitz 领投,Ashton Kutcher、Continuity Fund I 等跟投,至此其总融资额为 1250 万美元。本轮融资所得将用于进一步开发平台的 AI 和机器学习技术,增加人手等。
来源:36氪
作者:boxi
出处:http://36kr.com/p/5040793.html