Octo Telematics, a London-based provider of telematics services, has acquired the Mobility Solutions business of Tecnologie nelle Reti e nei Sistemi T.R.S. S.p.A (TRS, Rome), for €7 million in cash (about $US7.36 million).
Octo provides what it calls a full suite of solutions for motor insurers and fleet managers, connecting over 4.6 million users globally. By integrating Mobility Solutions into its current portfolio, Octo is able to position itself as the only telematics vendor able to offer a “triple play” solution, covering insurance, fleet and car sharing management needs for its customers.
Giuseppe Zuco, CEO, Octo Mobility Solutions.
Mobility Solutions technology, which helps customers manage their fleet and car-sharing services—including corporate car sharing—is currently used by 10 car-sharing operators in 14 cities, representing about 4,000 vehicles, including scooters, and more than 500,000 rentals monthly. By incorporating Mobility Solutions into Octo’s existing platform, and uniting the portfolio of Mobility Solutions users, Octo will support over 4.6 million connected users through its insurance platform and an additional 600,000 registered users on its mobility platform per year, totaling more than 5.2 million users annually. This will be in addition to the nearly 6 million rentals Mobility Solutions already services annually, with significant growth opportunities in Europe and the US in both the fleet & car-sharing management spaces, Octo reports.
“As a pioneer in the telematics space, we are continually examining ways we can innovate and provide our customers with first-in-industry telematics solutions,” comments Giuseppe Zuco, CEO, Octo Mobility Solutions and Octo co-founder. “Our acquisition of Mobility Solutions enables us to provide our customers with a truly integrated mobility platform powered by the most advanced technology in the industry. From driver identification to insurance risk evaluation, Octo can support the broad scope of management challenges.”
Pivotal Moment in Automotive Connectivity
Octo explains the strategy behind the Mobility Solutions acquisition as responding to a pivotal moment in the global automotive industry, as vehicles are increasingly being adapted to the new connected landscape being enabled by telecommunications solutions. The Ptolemus Consulting Group, a Brussels-based consulting firm specializing on geo-connected mobility, reports that nearly 100 million vehicles will be insured with telematics policies by 2020, rising to nearly 50 percent of vehicles globally by 2030. With this expansion in telematics-enabled services, solutions that also offer flexible, effective fleet and ride-sharing management functionality will provide customers the opportunity to streamline all their potential telematics-enabled operations.
The Mobility Solution technologies and services resulting from the acquisition will provide Octo’s Mobility Solution platform with built-out capabilities in both personal and corporate car-sharing services, parking management, and enhanced cloud-based fleet management, a vendor statement explains. Combining the new technologies and expertise into Octo’s comprehensive Mobility Solution platform, as well as investing additional resources into the platform’s evolution, will not only help the company service more customers annually, but will allow Octo to provide enhanced service to existing and prospective insurance partners who want to better understand the mobility and car-sharing space, the statement asserts.
Currently, the triple play telematics offering will be available in Italy, with further European and US rollouts in first half 2017.
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