Not really a crowdfunding investor usually, but this has me tempted.
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I wonder what their business model is? Itâs an excellent app, but Iâm not sure on how they are / will make money.
Interesting, and Iâll definitely take a look at the pitch deck when itâs out.
From Crowdfunding | Citymapper
- âWe have both consumer and enterprise business models. On the consumer side our business includes Pass (mobility subscription), Club (feature subscription), and Affiliate (promoting other private transport apps). On the enterprise side we license our world-leading technology, such as routing and transport data, through APIs and SDKs, to other companies, operators and local authorities. We do not sell personal user data and respect the privacy of our users.â
I assumed they were making referral money when I noticed the first taxi company in the list changing sometimes. And ofc thereâs been Pass for a while now, although Iâve never fully understood how they can sell it to me more cheaply than TfL and still make money.
Iâll def be investing a little. Probably the single best app I have on my phone imo.
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Interesting - thanks for the find! Iâm still not totally convinced though⌠(On the business case - I totally agree that itâs in my top apps!)
(Maybe a different topic, but thereâs definitely a gap in the market for municipal / social / other forms of funding for startups. Citymapper is a good example of something thatâs unequivocally good but might struggle to make the outsized returns that VCs and others want. There will be others And image if you wanted to start a building society for the digital ageâŚ)
Yeah, fair enough. I suppose what would be helpful to know is what proportion of their costs have been paid to date by funding vs actual revenue.
Obviously been going for a while now, since 2011. And have just massively expanded across both the UK and the US. So I certainly feel like theyâre on the right trajectory? Obviously either making enough/keeping investors happy enough still.
Yeah agree with this tbh. As I understand it, big films (for example) get absolutely buckets of public money from arts councils etc, something like Citymapper is certainly up there on public good. I know very few people in London who would not be relying on it nearly every day of their lives pre-pandemic (ovi thatâs a young, mostly car-less demographic but still).
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My non-London public transport services would absolutely benefit from some Citymapper magic. The apps and navigation for public transport outside of London are truly dire.
Itâs all the more disappointing because the technology clearly exists already (Citymapper), and the imperative to decarbonise our lives is greater than ever. Despite this, my local buses still advertise contactless payments like theyâre a novel feature, and predicting the arrival of the next bus is more art than science.
This doesnât mean Citymapper are guaranteed to make money, but the gap in the market exists.
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Totally agree with this.
I think the conundrum thatâs in my head is that Citymapper is an example of an excellent app that is part of the digital infrastructure in London - and potentially should be across the nation - but Iâm not sure just how profitable that would be. And, as weâve seen with Facebook, the drive for profitability can really ruin whatâs a decent idea. Alternatively, what are the compromises and the trade-offs to make Citymapper profitable? Would we still want to use it?
I think itâs this in a nutshell. 
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Part of the reason could be that as TfL arenât a commercial company, they can allow companies to use the data as a public good, rather than a revenue stream.
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Yeah think this is probs quite important.
Hopefully citymapper will keep expanding in the UK 
already pretty impressive as of recently https://content.citymapper.com/i/2241/new-cities-launched-across-the-uk-and-ireland?utm_source=iOS&utm_medium=uk-london
And itâs not just cities themselves now but surrounding areas in some places.
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Government is trying to address thisâŚ
⌠but operators do still seem to guard âtheirâ data jealously.
Even though Citymapper advertise their product as a pass itâs actually a PAYG card - some of their customers will use it less while others will hit the weekly TfL caps⌠and they collect the data which they will hope to moneytise
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The Government had a Future Fund as part of its Covid response which did something like this.
Though, Citymapper has raised VC Capital before - the last funding came in 2020:
What is the valuation?
The price will be the same as our 2020 financing. Crowdfunding investors in 2021 get the benefit of the same price as institutional investors in 2020.
It will be interesting to see their pitch - they had planned to crowdfund last year (before Covid) and that were also up for sale.
Given Google/Apple Maps keep improving, it will be interesting how Citymapper plan to compete
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Ah interestingâŚso is the suggestion that theyâre making enough off those who donât max it out to cover those who do?
Because itâs significantly cheaper than the corresponding weekly travelcard and/or cap for me. Zone 1-2 Citymapper for ÂŁ33, but TfL travelcard/cap for ÂŁ37.
And I appreciate it is basically, if not exactly, the same price as the monthly TfL, but obviously you keep the flexibility of starting/stopping on a weekly basis.
I would personally say that neither of Google/Apple Maps is anywhere near the level of info/usabillity that Citymapper currently offers. Feel like theyâd need huge upgrades to even get close, let alone actually challenge Citymapper.
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No, but that will be part of their business case. They will also have deals with various firms (taxis, Lime, car sharing firms etc) if you book via the app and they obviously hope you will go for the their âSuper Duperâ pass not their standard one.
Most of all though, they get more data on traveling patterns etc which they can then sell.
Iâve worked with these in the past. Citymapper doesnât actually get any specific usage data from the Pass card. Just like your bank doesnât if you use a contactless card for travelling. All they see is the monetary value of your travel.
Even if they did, it wouldnât be worth much more than the aggregate data they already have.
Facebook only makes around $50 revenue per user per year in Europe, and they know much more about you than Citymapper.
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Fascinating. I presume itâs much more in the States / before GDPR?
Citymapperâs pitch deck / financials will be fascinating.
Have any of you seen anything approaching an investment prospectus? Most crowdfunding companies publish these ahead of the round, so investors can make informed decisions based on business plan and valuation. I havenât seen anything.
I really like what theyâve done, and am tempted to invest. Theyâre clearly a leader within their industry, but if their valuation unreasonable, or their business plan doesnât appeal to me, I wouldnât want to invest.
Quite often with Crowdcube, you have to move fast, so if they only publish then, thereâll be insufficient time to read the material before investing (when I invested in Monzoâs first round, they published all the details well in advance, and I invested within 27 seconds of it going live).
Grateful if youâd please let me know if youâve seen anything online!
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I havenât either.
In fact, Iâm growing a bit tired of / concerned about companies that crowdfund from their users, often without giving any meaningful financial information whilst putting potential investors under time pressure. And thatâs even before you get to the (more often than not) lack of shareholder updates if you do decide to invest.
This all stems from companies seeing crowdfunding as marketing rather than investment, I think. And it has to stop.
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Agreed. If theyâre not sharing details in advance, itâs a little dubious. Theyâve just announced theyâve secured EIS funding. However, still not provided any details 
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Their emails are bordering on coercive. âThe investment goes live at 11am, we recommend being ready to invest quicklyâ - âby the way ÂŁ40m of interest already registeredâ (Iâm paraphrasing before anyone fact checks meâŚ)
I.e. hit the invest button before you read thoroughly, research and contemplate.
Smacks of desperation if you ask me, and surprised Crowdcube/the FCA donât pick up on it.
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