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When RideScout founder and CEO Joseph Kopser founded his startup in 2011, he probably didn’t expect to be acquired by a massive company just three years later. Last month, over a year after launching their product, the company was acquired for an undisclosed amount by Car2Go North America which is owned by an even larger German-based company. The speed of the acquisition is a testament to the quality of the idea and the team that pursued its execution.
RideScout describes itself as “a mobile app that helps you get from point A to point B faster and smarter.” It has also been described by the founder as “Kayak for ground transportation.”
Essentially, what this really means is that it shows you real-time information about every single available transportation option at any given moment, based on your location and your desired destination. It also includes mapping, calendar integration, and letting you book transport services like Car2Go.
Joseph Kopser came up with the idea when he was living in Virginia, commuting to and from the Pentagon for work every day. In 2011 his friend and co-founder, Craig Cummings, was able to convince him to make it a reality. By this point, Kopser had moved to Austin to be a military science professor at UT. They founded the company at the Austin Technology Incubator with the original name GoingMyWay.
In 2012 the name was changed to RideScout and in early 2013 the App launched in beta at SXSW in Austin. In November of 2013 they completed their first full-scale city launch in Washington, D.C. As of now, less than a year later, RideScout is available in nearly 70 cities.
Such speedy growth is very difficult to achieve in a startup. In this case the product is slick, user-friendly, and feature-rich, and the team has obviously been very devoted to the vision. More importantly, the product is useful.
Car2Go was smart enough to pick up on that before any competitors did but the idea attracted serious attention well before an acquisition was ever guaranteed. Kopser and Cummings have managed to secure $2.8 million dollars from about 70 investors since launch. The acquisition amount has not been disclosed at this point.
Ridescout is available on iOS and Android, and is available in most major cities in the United States.
