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Four Portuguese municipalities launched a challenge to improve their citizens’ relationship with the city through urban mobility solutions. Abrantes, Angra do Heroísmo, Braga and Fundão have in common the same goal: connecting people and areas sustainably and efficiently. With a scattered low population density, and the lack of public transportation or alternative routes, the locals struggle with commuting to work, access to public services, or even road safety.
On the 8th and 9th of June, Get in the Ring Portugal Urban Mobility 2021 concluded in two remarkable dealmaking days with the goal of testing, scaling and proving game changing solutions. A strong line-up of 25 selected startups came together to showcase innovative technologies and high levels of commitments for shaping the future of mobility together with the four Portuguese municipalities. Fair play, exhilarating energy , and opportunities to collaborate in future endeavors. Nonetheless, Get in the Ring is a competition and there we’ve witness fascinating pitch battles:
For the Abrantes challenge we had Infinite Foundry, Sensefinity, BusBox, Full Venue, Youship, Vianova, Autofleet, and Tytovision. After some of the best fierce debates between Autofleet and ViaNova, Autofleet emerged as the winner.
In Angra do Heroísmo, from Infinite Foundry, Sensefinity, BusBox, Full Venue, Youship, Vianova, Autofleet, and Spero, BusBox was selected as the winning mobility startup.
The municipality of Braga called for innovative mobility solutions and Tranquilcity, Vianova, Parknav, Etalyc, Xena Vision, Pavnext, CycleAI, and Peregrine responded. The battle between Pavnext and Parknav is an amazing example of going for gold, but still being friendly. In the end, Pavnext was crowned as the winner.
Logiam, Enterprise Bot, Vianova, Volvero, Autofleet, Ridebee, Mobiler, and Atlantic Bikes answered with authority for the Fundão challenge. Once again, Autofleet conquered the jury’s attention.
For the final battle, our Director, Jurgen Nieuwenhuijsen gets in the ring to help scale the boldest urban mobility innovations from Portugal, alongside fellow champion jury members Daniel Serra Segarra and Gonçalo Amorim. In the pitch battle showdown between Autofleet and Pavnext, the big winner, who took home €5.000, was the Israeli VaaS (Vehicle-as-a-Service) company Autofleet, represented by Tal Hochbaum. Tal is one of the few female competitors of this year’s edition. From the beginning, Tal proved her ambition to win the belt, demonstrating strong pitching skills which enhanced the qualities of Autofleet’s solution. This took her directly to the finals, after winning both Fundão and Abrantes’ challenges.
👑 Autofleet is the first ever Vehicle as a Service platform for fleets. The company provides Fleet Managers with a platform to optimize existing operations and leverage underutilized vehicles to serve on-demand mobility demand for transportation and logistics.
A huge thank you to the representatives of Abrantes, Angra do Heroísmo, Braga and Fundão, who were the true pioneers of this national edition. The final word goes to our partners Building Global Innovators, EIT Urban Mobility, and Vodafone Power Lab for making this possible and leading the way for the future of mobility.
Have you missed the premiere? Watch it here: