Cabforce was founded by frequent business travellers frustrated with taxi services around the world. Photo: Cabforce.
Finland’s Cabforce will join with Ireland’s Car Trawler in a deal which will help Finnish operations grow.
Cabforce and Car Trawler, two leading high-tech firms focused on ground transportation, are joining forces. Finland’s fast-growing taxi booking specialist Cabforce will be acquired by Dublin-based Car Trawler.
Car Trawler is a provider of travel technology and aggregates car rental and ground transportation services. CEO Mike McGearty stresses the strengths the two companies will bring each other.
“Car Trawler already has the most comprehensive range of car rentals available online,” he said in a statement. “Now with the addition of Cabforce content and specialist expertise to our existing portfolio of ground transportation products we will significantly enhance the level of service, product range and availability for customers.”
Global growth
Cabforce was founded by frequent business travellers frustrated with taxi services around the world. They first thought to improve the dispatch system and location awareness of local companies, but soon switched to solving the problem of finding safe and reliable service. They allow a traveller to pre-book taxis, executive cars or minibuses without surprise fees or long waits in queues.
Cabforce allows a traveller to pre-book taxis, executive cars or minibuses without surprise fees or long waits in queues. Photo: Cabforce.
The company began servicing only eight European cities in January 2012 and soon spread over six continents. Turnover is growing at about a 300 per cent pace, and they believe with the acquisition they will now be able to grow even more strongly.
“Cabforce currently employs nineteen people in its Otaniemi, Espoo office,” says Cabforce CEO Andreas Hansson. “The number of employees will grow in Finland faster than without the acquisition. Cabforce’s owners and employees are very happy about the deal.”
Hansson stresses that without the support of Finnish institutions Cabforce would never have grown and attracted such a strong acquirer.
“The Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation Tekes’ support has helped Cabforce significantly,” he says. “The company has gone through the Young Innovative Companies program as well as received R&D funding.”
Finnish technology
Car Trawler plans to turn Cabforce’s Otaniemi, Espoo offices into a “Centre of Excellence” to develop the travellers’ ground transportation booking service.
“Cabforce is a tech company with great potential not just in the Finnish market but worldwide,” says Bobby Healy, CTO of Car Trawler. “With the right catalyst a Finnish tech success story will become an integral part of a global business. We believe that Car Trawler will provide that catalyst. The broader infrastructure and global distribution base that Cabforce will enjoy when fully integrated with Car Trawler will accelerate their access to new markets and customer segments, bringing technology of Finnish origins to customers all over the world.”
He points out that the new era of online business has changed the way companies operate, and their boundaries are not defined by borders or other geographic barriers.
“Our decision to acquire Cabforce was based on it helping to accelerate our global growth which includes, but is not limited to, the Finnish market,” Healy concludes. “Cabforce’s partnerships and expertise in the area of taxi booking solutions – when combined with Car Trawler’s global footprint and advanced technology – will create a leading ground transportation company, not just in Finland but all over the world.”
Text: David J. Cord
www.cabforce.com
www.cartrawler.com
Article produced in cooperation with Good News from Finland.
