Tapazz
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Tapazz
Car rental and other means of transportation
Cooperative partnership
Belgium
Sustainability, scalability and collaboration
Maarten Kooiman, co-founder of Tapazz
Yoshi Janssens
Maarten Kooiman
Summary
Tapazz, based in Antwerp, Belgium, has developed online software to enable car owners to rent their vehicles to their neighbors. By making the process simple and low-risk, Tapazz has removed many of the barriers which often people experience when trying to ‘share’ their property. Helping communities to share their cars will result in fewer cars being purchased, free up space currently used for parking and ease congestion in cities. More importantly it is changing the way people view cars – as one option which is part of the full spread of multimodal travel, rather than the automatic first choice. Put simply, making car hire and sharing easier will reduce car journeys. (Ashden, 2015)
Background
90% of the time, most cars aren’t running. This is the trigger to not only problems with space (in Antwerp the demand for parking spaces exceeds the supply with 40%), it also means a waste. A study shows that one shared car can replace a dozen other cars, leading to a saving of eleven cars.
The business idea was to accomplish a change in behavior. People had to consider a car as a mean of transportation instead of a status symbol. The result had to be nothing less than a mobility revolution. (Vlaanderen, 2015) Maarten financed the startup of Tapazz with his own financial resources.
Two years ago, Maarten was looking for a true business opportunity. The idea had to be innovative and had to have growth potential. It had to be related to the things around us: the neighborhood, our wallet, the environment. Preferably also something rebel about it.
Maarten was already active in the mobility and electric cars-scene and was gripped by everything about the sharing economy. Maarten noticed that with the internet, you could make the impact of sharing much greater.
Mission
Together for a sustainable mobility.
Vision
Organize a mobility revolution.
Values
Collaboration, environment and innovation.
Business Model
Tapazz created their own business model. Clients don’t have to pay registration fees or don’t have to take subscriptions to the platform. Who registers gets an account and can rent/borrow or can put his/her car up for rent.
Subscribers are free to choose their own price if they put their car up for rent. So Tapazz is never sure how much they will make on each loan. If the price is €0, Tapazz asks a minimum commission of €3.
Tapazz got some help from partners at the start up. They had some partners they had to pay. Now they have P&V, BMW, KBC, City of Antwerp and Ashden as principal partners. These are win-win partnerships.
Tapazz was developed using the minimum viable product principle. Specified, you advance with small steps and with the minimum cost for development you try to get the biggest return feedback as possible.
Growth
In the autumn of 2012 they developed the first software and performed the first tests. They improved their product with the feedback they got from the testing panel. In 2013 they went public and started to attract members. From the beginning of 2014 Tapazz started growing faster because cities who were struggling with the lack of parking spaces got to know their concept.
Tapazz now grows 100% a year. Next year they want to reach 3,5 thousand people using the platform and the app.
Customers
Everybody can register, there’s no clear segmentation. Their communication is primarily directed at early adaptors and innovators. Elder people aren’t that familiar with the internet or smart phones.
Tapazz focuses on freshly graduated young-adults who don’t have the money to buy a car. The average age of subscribers is 35 to 45 years.
Competitors
Tapazz doesn’t have many competitors in Belgium. They experience competition from the government through sponsoring for Cambio and Autopia. Foreign competitors are Relay Ride and Getaround but they’re unlikely to come to Belgium soon. These players mostly stay in their own country and Belgium is low priority.
The direct competition is national competition that comes from people who lease or buy a car and from the government players. Indirect competition could be colleagues that come to Belgium, but that’s not a concern for the near future.
Conclusion
Threats for Tapazz come from the government subsidizing the competitors. If these money sources were cut off, the government wouldn’t be as interferential and this would turn this treat into a significant opportunity. All of a sudden, the potential market would be a lot bigger.
A comparable situation is the fiscal regime for company cars in Belgium. If this was toned down, this treat would also become an opportunity for car sharing.
Tapazz is not that financially strong as the foreign colleagues or the government, which is a weakness for them.
What Maarten has learned from the founding of Tapazz is that you easily underestimate the administration at the start up. He also says you have to think ‘marathon’, not ‘sprint’.
As a tip Maarten explains: It’s hard work but after a while it’s starting to pay off. Think things through, there are going to be many ups and downs. But make a calculated choice and go for it if this is your passion. The biggest obstacle Tapazz had was the lack of starting capital.
Eventually, Tapazz wants to become self-sufficient. Not as a goal but as a method to achieve the mobility revolution. Maarten tell us: “Tapazz is going to reach a couple of thousand members. We started in Flanders, but the concept is extendable to Belgium entirely and beyond. Besides this, we’re partnering with big parties to look at the possibilities to launch our technology in the B2B market.
Posted on 19/03/2016