German Movebis startup in Denmark
German Movebis startup in Denmark

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Innovative mobility company Movebis saw the potential for growth in Denmark

case

Innovative mobility company Movebis saw the potential for growth in Denmark

Movebis founder Till Helmbold and his friend Dirk Nessenius had never imagined that Till would be building a tech company in Denmark. But a fateful meeting in 2019 helped open the doors for the perfect match.

When

What would be your thought when you drove by a packed bus stop every day for 20 years? Would you wonder why people were always waiting? Why there was not a more effective way to pick-up people going to work in the morning on the go?
 
For Dirk, the wonder was why there were so many single-driver cars passing, yet no way to spontaneously rideshare. And in that wonder Movebis was born. 
 
With a spontaneous ridesharing service, more people can get where they want to go, fast, simple and in a way that cuts down on CO2 emissions and traffic congestion. In a more modern call-back to the old days of hitchhiking, Movebis’ ridesharing service, Spyce, seeks to do just that. Enable people to hook-up on the go, allowing both flexibility, comfort and meeting new faces when traveling around the city.
 
Derived from spontaneous ridesharing, Movebis is now branching out into AI-based movement predictions. Named Themisi, the AI individual mobility prediction application allows both Spyce and other B2B  ride mobility sharing services to better grasp the flow of traffic and customers, allowing for improved and more immediate service where needed. 
German Movebis startup in Denmark

The journey to Denmark

Even though Movebis now resides in Denmark, it hasn’t always been so. The bus stop that gave Dirk his original idea is in Germany, and as such, it would have been the simple choice to run the company from there. 
 
But in 2019 fate intervened. At the Future Mobility Summit 2019 in Berlin, Dirk ran into a member of the Danish Foreign Ministry representing Invest in Denmark, and quickly a match was in the making. For Denmark, attracting innovative and forward-thinking tech companies is a high priority, and Movebis realised that Denmark offers significant advantages in terms of taking their applications to the next level.
 
A short time after the original meeting, Movebis went on a fact-finding mission to Denmark assisted by Invest in Denmark. During the trip, Movebis met with Danish universities and other partners regarding software development and talent, but also local authorities in the City of Aarhus regarding the city’s future mobility strategy and how Movebis’ products could fit into this. Furthermore, Movebis met with potential seed investors and R&D funding related organisations, gauging the potential for extra growth and development funds.
 
After the trip, it was clear that Movebis and Denmark made a great fit. Close access to authorities, an extensive tech and start-up ecosystem, as well as a made-to-be-easy system of establishing business made the move to Denmark obvious in a business sense and very easy to pull off practically. Denmark also offers a great launching pad for rolling out software services to the rest of Europe, and both decision-makers and users boast a high-level digital mindset, making it easy to test and optimise digital products in development.
"We saw an exciting opportunity in Denmark for growing our company, as the people are very open for digital solutions. It is easy to set up business, easy to get in contact with decisionmakers and easy to recruit top-level talent. All of which is especially important when building a tech-company and developing innovative products such as Themisi. And while 2020 has been a build-up year, we are looking forward to getting our products on the market in 2021."

Till Helmbold

CEO, Movebis

Towards an official roll-out and increased investments

Being a start-up, the development phase has taken up most of Movebis’ time in 2020, but the company looks towards 2021 with excitement. A proof-of-concept test for both the ridesharing service Spyce and their prediction application Themisi is upcoming in Aarhus, and a potential guerilla-launch might also be on the cards this year. Conversations with strategic partners for Themisi are going on in parallel, and customers might soon get a chance to experience how AI individual mobility predictions can help make their daily lives a lot easier.
 
With global ambitions underpinning the company, Movebis is also looking at bringing in further funding and investment, so the company can take even greater steps towards the future of mobility. And with a strong trial market in Denmark, and a growing business operation, the bet is that Movebis will be one to watch out for in the future.   

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