Washington, D.C.-based ParkedIn is a startup out of 1776 that is developing an application to improve the usually tedious activity of finding parking in the city. Functioning much like Airbnb, but for parking, ParkedIn users can set up a parking lot reservation ahead of time via a mobile app — which will be available for iOS on June 1. Founded just this year, ParkedIn currently has about 20,000 parking spots under its coverage in the District. By the end of 2015, the startup hopes to offer 100,000 different parking spots throughout the city, ParkedIn co-founder Matt Provo told DC Inno.
“ParkedIn disrupts the current balance of supply and demand of the parking industry by creating revenue from transactions, API Licensing and Revenue Sharing agreements across enterprise and consumer marketplace users,” the startup’s AngelList profile reads.
Up until now, ParkedIn was operating in stealth mode as it further developed its application and secured various parking spot contracts, Provo said. Part of the company’s research and development process revolved around a beta group of testers who are helping build out the platform. The company has been totally bootstrapped and has five people on staff right now. ParkedIn has already generated $30,000 in revenue, pre-mainstream launch, and is actively pursuing a venture raise, Provo said. (The ParkedIn co-founder declined to reveal details regarding how much the round would be for, when it would close and/or who was involved at an investor level.)
“We have parked our cars the same way for years and years, and those of us with driveways leave valuable real estate vacant all the time. We have an opportunity to change the way we think to make parking much less painful through really smart technology. We juggle our lives (meetings, events,excursions with friends) before we think about parking. Once we realize this it is often too late, and frustration ensues. We are here to change that,” Provo told DC Inno.
Using ParkedIn, hosts are able to list parking spots and then the entire payment and reservation action can be completed from a smartphone. Once payment for the parking “appointment” is made by a user of ParkedIn, he/she can rest easy knowing that they will not have to deal with the hassle of finding a place while en route to another activity. Yearly, 70 million hours are spent looking for parking, equaling $1 billion in annual economic loss, according to ParkedIn.
“For $10/month someone can list their parking space with us, and those in popular parts of the city or near metro stations can generate upwards of $400/month for one space. We plan to roll out strategically by neighborhood in DC, Bethesda, and Northern Virginia once we have the right balance of inventory coming from churches, universities, commercial parking garages, residential driveways and other creative spaces. We expect to have 100,00 parking spaces available in that area within the next 9-12 months. All people need to do to add their space is go to www.parkedinapp.com and fill out our RSVP form,” said Provo.
Washington, D.C. is the first city that ParkedIn is launching in, but the startup has ambitious goals for the scalability of its services in the future. That being said, ParkedIn’s focus is local right now. Provo noted the importance of growing the startup’s parking lot inventory so that users can be offered a convenient and reliable service no matter where they driving in D.C.
With regards to why ParkedIn chose D.C. for the location of their launch, the startup’s co-founder said, “I am so happy we chose to launch in the D.C. metro area. Each day hundreds of thousands of cars travel into the city for a myriad of reasons, and our leaders really care about creating a great experience, especially from a transportation standpoint. Innovative programs are happening as we speak, but we can do even more to reduce city congestion, stimulate economic growth and support local businesses."
Provo added: "I love that there are so many young people at our great universities, professionals working hard, and young families who want to enjoy all our area has to offer—a vibrant community willing to support new technology. When you combine this with the opportunities ParkedIn provides, you get a very happy, long-lasting marriage.”
