ParkBee secures EUR 30m in equity funding with Koolen Industries as lead investor
Koolen Industries, the clean energy investor headed by Kees Koolen, has invested in ParkBee, the leading tech platform for off-street parking in Europe. Other investors are a number of leading (tech) entrepreneurs and investors, as well existing shareholders. Total funding to ParkBee amounts to EUR 30m. Existing shareholders are Statkraft Ventures, Innovation Quarter, management and personnel. Proceeds will be put to work in ParkBee’s continued expansion, both in existing markets and across Europe. Currently, ParkBee is well established in the Netherlands and the UK and is rolling out in Germany, France, Belgium and Ireland. We anticipate adding further countries in the near future.
In the UK, ParkBee is revolutionising the parking industry. Its technology acts as a parking platform, connecting car park spots to drivers using RingGo, JustPark, Connect and Pay-By-Phone. Car park owners who sign up with ParkBee benefit from accessing a demand pool of 45 million users via these apps, which has driven c. 350% expansion in the number of off-street spots ParkBee offers across the country over the last three years. Meanwhile, app providers can offer drivers access to ParkBee’s large and fast-growing network of affiliated car parks. Drivers with any of these apps benefit from using their own favourite parking app to enter a ParkBee garage
Kees Koolen, CEO and founder of Koolen Industries, “ParkBee has an attractive and highly scalable business model. With its strong partners on both demand and supply, ParkBee is primed for rapid expansion throughout Europe. ParkBee’s dense network of garages offers great opportunities to further facilitate the transition to EV’s in European cities. This transition is of key importance to the transition to clean energy in general, and also to the quality of people’s lives in our cities by both reducing noise and air pollution.”
WP Boerma, CEO of ParkBee, “We are thrilled to secure such a reputable, experienced investor and tech entrepreneur as Kees Koolen. Coming from someone with such a record of picking winning tech platforms, we consider it a great thumbs up. I’d like to see this as recognition for the hard work and dedication of each and every one within ParkBee to get us where we are now. With the ‘rocket fuel’ now secured we all are looking forward to ParkBee at full thrust.”
