ParkUpp start-up monetising inner city parking

10th June 2019 By: Schalk Burger - Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

Property technology firm ParkUpp is monetising idle parking spaces in inner cities by allowing private and commercial property owners to list available parking spaces on its website and persons looking for long-term parking to browse available options.

There are many cars parked on the side of the road in South Africa’s inner cities, while most parking facilities had about 40% idle parking spaces.

The website ParkUpp.co.za takes visitors on an intuitive journey to find long-term parking and also helps property owners list their parking spaces. All listings are shown with the address details and clear photos of the space.

The platform already has more than 200 listings.

Listing available parking spaces on the service costs property owners nothing, but a 15% commission is payable to ParkUpp upon the long-term occupation of a listed parking space.

ParkUpp ran a pilot trial in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, which enabled it to hone the product to meet market demand, says founder Palesa Moloi.

“We had a very successful pilot project in collaboration with our first client, which is a property development company that has six buildings in Braamfontein with about 1 000 unused parking spaces.”

The start-up was funded by Dr Sedise Moseneke. After founding the company, Moloi was joined by business partner Michael Savvides.

ParkUpp was incubated at the University of Cape Town Venture Incubation Laboratory and sponsored by MTN in 2018. It grew gradually until its launch early this year.