Daimler acquires interest in startup company tiramizoo

Daimler AG has acquired a minority interest in tiramizoo GmbH, a Munich-based startup company in the field of mobility services. tiramizoo pioneered a new business segment when it launched a year ago with a fully automated online booking platform for local urban
delivery services in Munich. Today, customers in another ten major German cities can book local courier and delivery services through tiramizoo.

Daimler is the market leader in the short-term car rental sector with car2go, which currently has 150,000 registered customers, and has held an interest in MyTaxi through car2go since the beginning of 2012. In July 2012, Daimler launched the moovel mobility platform in the greater Stuttgart area and acquired a holding in carpooling.com, the world's largest car-sharing network.

The strategic partnership between Daimler and tiramizoo will allow the two companies to concentrate their know-how in the field of innovative mobility services. Their objective is to work together to develop the online platform of tiramizoo and to extend it both nationally and internationally. Close cooperation between the two companies will create a comprehensive and efficient portfolio of activities through the networking of local urban mobility and transport services.

With its network currently comprising more than 1,200 couriers, tiramizoo is able to offer flexible access to local courier services and can identify suitable service providers for all its users in real time. Use of tiramizoo can also be combined with other mobility services. The synergies which are created in this way can help to relieve urban traffic congestion.

"Our participation in tiramizoo will help to drive the intelligent networking of mobility in urban areas," said Wilfried Steffen, Head of Business Innovation at Daimler AG. "We want to optimise the utilisation of transport capacity and create a new service offering significant customer benefits."

"We are delighted that we have been able to get Daimler on board as an investor in tiramizoo. The arrival of this leading automaker means that we have a strong partner in the field of mobility. We shall use the new capital to step up our sales activities and to continue the development of our technology," commented Michael Lohr, Founder and Managing Director of tiramizoo.

In making local delivery services available online, tiramizoo is supporting the optimisation of the flow of goods in densely populated areas by allowing courier drivers to take on additional orders which help improve their capacity utilisation on delivery rounds. Using GPS tracking, tiramizoo's innovative technology can determine the ideal courier and optimal route for every delivery.

Extended booking functionality means that now, for the first time, both local vendors and online platforms have access to suitable couriers for same-day deliveries. The services offered by tiramizoo complement those of existing nationwide express operators by enabling same-day deliveries – in a given time window or even within 90 minutes – from the locally held inventory of online shops.

In addition to Daimler, the shareholders in tiramizoo comprise the company's Founders, Michael Lohr, Volker Schneider and Philipp Walz, investors Burkhard Blum and Dirk Reiche as well as High-Tech Grunderfonds and Bayern Kapital.

Posted in: Burkhard Blum,Daimler,Daimler AG,Dirk Reiche,International,Michael Lohr,Philipp Walz,tiramizoo GmbH,Volker Schneider,Wilfried Steffen