DB invests in two new mobility solutions

DB Digital Ventures, Deutsche Bahn’s vehicle for promoting new digital business models, is taking a stake in two young US companies. Investing in Ridecell and GoKid, DB is betting on innovative technologies and two products that are an addition to the core rail business and could have a key role to play in the mobility market of the future.

“Railways were the startups of the first Industrial Revolution. Today, we are bringing startups on board to expand our technological expertise and develop networked, customized products for our customers in the era of mobility 4.0”, says Prof. Sabina Jeschke, Member of the Management Board of DB for Digitalization and Technology.

GoKid takes kids to school safe and sound

New York startup GoKid makes parents’ lives easier. The company runs a carpool platform for driving children to school, sports and other after-school activities safely and on time. GoKid has already organized more than 100,000 trips, predominantly in the US. Since trips are shared and consolidated, parents can save time, money and the environment. “We want to support DB’s commitment to new forms of mobility with our carpooling service for schoolchildren”, explains Dr. Stefanie Lemcke, GoKid’s CEO.

Ridecell is the world’s leading platform provider for car sharing, ride sharing and autonomous fleet management

Ridecell, founded in 2009 and based out of San Francisco, has developed an intelligent software platform for operating car sharing, ride sharing and autonomous fleet management. More than 20 million rides and rentals have already been organized on the Ridecell platform. “Our end-to-end integration empowers new mobility operators, cities and private fleets to launch, expand, and maximize the utilization of their own ride sharing and car sharing services”, says Ridecell’s CEO, Aarjav Trivedi. In DB’s view, Ridecell has the potential to unite all of the usage forms of fleets on one platform: car sharing, ride sharing and on-demand ride hailing – including autonomous vehicles. This could increase the capacity utilization of fleets and bring trips into closer alignment with customers’ needs.

DB Digital Ventures will provide roughly EUR 100 million of venture capital by 2019 for collaboration with startups to promote disruptive innovations in mobility that will benefit DB’s customers in the long term.