Planet of the Apps: "Other tech start-ups like Rapitow™, known as the "Uber of tow trucks", is creating a huge presence and one that has the potential to challenge traditional motor corporation's like the Canadian Automotive Association (CAA)."
The world is becoming increasingly mobile...literally. Seven billion people worldwide own a mobile phone and one in every five people use smart phone devices. It's no surprise that marketers have jumped on a new opportunity of being able to advertise directly to the palm of your hand; a pocket size device that connects you with thousands of applications which has ultimately transformed the way we live our lives. From helping solve day to day problems, to managing your finances and tackling your personal life, apps have become a massive money making business that we have come to trust and depend on.
Today, using a smartphone has actually very little to do with making a phone call. In fact, studies have shown that using a smartphone to make a call is only the sixth most popular reason to utilize your mobile. The first are applications. With Apple preparing to celebrate its 25 billion download milestone, it's become increasingly clear that smartphone application development has revolutionized the world of technology, communication and productivity. Calendars, maps, transportation services, music and social media are all readily available at your fingertips, to name a few.
Specifically service type apps are making it a lot easier for people to get what they want and quick. A simple example is the popular Uber application. The success of Uber has transformed the way we travel and now operates in hundreds of cities worldwide. But what does this mean for other major businesses that don't yet exist in the world of mobile applications?
Rapitow™ Roadside Assistance App Secures Seed Funding with VC LiquidProject
Rapitow™, the new app with the solution to bring roadside assistance into the 21st century, has signed an investment deal with VC and start up advisor LiquidProject. CEO and founding partner of LiquidProject Jason Tryfon, with years of experience in the automotive sector formally as CEO of Vital Insights, joins Rapitow as Chairman.
LiquidProject is Canada’s newest early-stage VC with a full service business execution studio. “We put seed-stage investments into disruptive companies managed by dynamic entrepreneurs like those at Rapitow," says Tryfon. “Roadside disruption is long overdue and Rapitow offers the solution, rescuing stranded motorists faster than conventional options."
Rapitow, with its solution-based technology, eliminates the inefficiencies and costs associated with the outdated call-centre dispatch model. Called 'The Uber of Tow Trucks', it uses GPS to connect tow truck drivers directly to the stranded motorist.
Toronto-based startup Rapitow™, billing itself as the “Uber for tow trucks,” enables members to hail the nearest available operator by GPS, and to track its progress on a mobile device.
The app was launched for use in the Toronto area last week, with membership costing $9 a month for a single car, no matter who is driving, with additional cars costing $7 more a month. The only additional fee members could face is a $2 a kilometre charge after the first 100.
If you have ever had a car crash, been in a car that won’t go or had a flat tire, you’ve probably experienced the frustration of waiting at the side of the road for help to come.
Maybe you have called for roadside assistance and have no idea when your knight in a shiny truck will arrive. Perhaps you don’t have access to a roadside assistance program and were approached by an unmarked tow truck at the side of a 400 series highway and were just happy to be removed from a frightening position, only to discover that the driver will not unload your vehicle until you provide a few hundred dollars in cash.
A Toronto company has launched a new smartphone-based service called Rapitow™ that aims to “revolutionize the archaic roadside assistance industry,” according to founders Waheed Subhani and Joe Borg. The launch of this company happens to come at a time when new legislation promises to change the often sketchy towing industry in Ontario.
'Like Uber for tow trucks': New app summons roadside assistance
A new app lets stranded drivers summon the nearest tow truck by tapping the screen of their smartphone.
Rapitow™ Roadside Assistance uses a cellphone's built-in GPS to find the closest tow truck to a disabled vehicle. It lets the app's user request the tow truck's assistance and then displays the truck's route so the user knows how long the truck will take to reach him or her.
"It's like Uber for tow trucks," a news release from the Mississauga-based company said Wednesday, referring to the popular taxi-hailing smartphone app available internationally.
A new smartphone app has set out to connect Canadians with the nearest towing service.
Working via the device’s built-in GPS, Rapitow™ Roadside Assistance allows stranded drivers to summon a tow truck with the tap of a finger. The app will exchange the location of the disabled vehicle with the tower’s route and estimated arrival time.
The brainchild of Mississauga-based brothers-in-law—merging respective backgrounds in software consulting and decades spent working in the towing industry—the service launched in the GTA Dec. 1, and will roll out across the country throughout the month.
Watch out, CAA: New roadside assistance apps seeking to ‘revolutionize’ towing industry
Tow-truck drivers snarled traffic around Queen’s Park in Toronto on Tuesday to protest new provincial regulations, but another, potentially more disruptive force is poised to hit the industry: tech startups.
Towing may not be the first business that jumps to mind when one thinks of innovative technology, but new apps on both sides of the border are taking aim at roadside assistance, giving customers more choice and potentially threatening traditional motor clubs like the Canadian Automobile Association.
“We’re big believers that the on-demand economy is going to revolutionize every service industry in North America,” said Chris Spanos, CEO of towing app Urgent.ly. “We think roadside assistance is ripe and ready for that revolution.”