Avoiding the stress of parking, the short rental of a parking space is done with the Parkito app
Interview with the founder of the startup that grew up with Hubble that uses IoT technologies for the security of hosts and drivers
The story of Parkito Start with the stress of looking for a parking space in the center of Bologna. The empty laps, the rush, the creativity to show off to find parking, experiences repeated several times a week. This is how Marco Lepore recounts the birth of his idea for the startup that developed the portal for short parking spaces.
“The average time to find parking in the main Italian cities is 40 minutes - explains the founder of Parkito, citing a study by FS Research & Vodafone - we propose to solve the problem with a platform for short-term rentals of boxes and parking spaces between individuals, through a free app and a very fast and automatic booking system that uses IoT technologies to guarantee a safe experience for users.”
The project participated in the eighth batch of Hubble, the program of Nana Bianca and Fondazione CR Firenze, and during the 4 months of acceleration it redefined its corporate structure, reorganized the team, changed its business model: “The big difference between Hubble and other acceleration programs is that in Nana Bianca there is great attention to the product, to the improvement of ease of use, with a Silicon Valley mentality”.
The Parkito app has been updated to be increasingly user friendly and access to the car park is managed through padlocks, boxes that contain keys and smart remote controls.
“On the software side, Parkito has a proprietary technology available for IOS and Android that has led us to develop the application especially in the backend - explains Lepore - we are developing parameters to integrate any type of hardware that remotely manages access, from lock systems to complete automation systems as in the cases of Masterlock and Onecontrol, which are the two companies that have devices already natively integrated with us and that allow our drivers to access the parking spaces they have booked in complete autonomy”.
“Security is provided by the sharing of temporary accesses that are encrypted and shared via Bluetooth without passing alphanumeric codes that can be copied.” Why should a host rent their parking space through Parkito?
“Because we guarantee higher revenues and payment certainty. We are working to create a healthy community where trust is fueled by the registration and traceability of each user,” Lepore explains again.
It's easy for motorists to see the advantage: you avoid fines and car removals, you can even book 5 minutes in advance, the average cost of parking is on average lower than that of a garage, and you pollute less.
In which cities can you park or rent with Parkito? The service is being activated in early October in Turin and Florence, but other important urban centers such as Rome, Milan and Bologna will arrive soon.
So far, more than 50 parking lots have been confirmed by people who are believing in the project: on the page https://www.parkito.app/host you can find all the information to rent your garage or private parking space.
“We are building the largest car park without land consumption,” the team concludes.
