Monetise-your-carpark app Parkable expands into Oz with acquisition bankrolled by Spark, NZVIF

Parkable co-founders (from left) Brody Nelson, Warwick Beauchamp and Toby Littin. Photo / Jason Oxenham.

Carpark space-sharing app Parkable has expanded across the Tasman by buying Park Genie.

Parkable chief executive Toby Littin says the deal will give his company's app access to 1200 carpark spaces in Brisbane, on top of the 5500 it already has on its books in NZ.

The startup says it now has 50,000 users in Auckland, Christchurch, Hamilton, Tauranga, Wellington and Brisbane

Littin won't give financials, but says the Park Genie deal was enabled by a funding round that saw Spark and Crown-backed NZVIF invest in Parkable.

Auckland man Duncan Greive is also a shareholder.

Parkable first made the news in 2015 when the startup listed170 driveway and off-street parking spaces near Eden Park for an All Black test.

Today, the startup also lets you list a work carpark space after hours or turn an unused piece of commercial land into a carpark, using Parkable for bookings. The startup takes a 20 to 40 per cent stake, depending on the number of spaces involved and whether you manage your own carpark.

The company also has a new enterprise product, which allows companies to manage their carparks.

If a company has, say, 200 staff but 100 carparks, Parkable can be used to "hotdesk" the spaces, Littin says. Customers for the service include Datacom, IAG and KPMG.

The chief executive says the enterprise service, which costs from 50 cents per space per day, is Parkable's key point of difference in what he concedes is a crowded market worldwide.

Locally, Parkable has outlived early rivals ParkBubble and ParkSmartly, but faces new competition from the ParkMate, 100 per cent owned by Wilson Parking (ParkMate pushes its owners carparks and various councils, but also offers the chance for hosts to monetise a vacant carpark).

Although he won't comment on profitability, Littin says Parkable has expanded from three to 27 staff over the past three years, with six more coming onboard via the Park Genie deal. And it made the Deloitte Fast 50 for 2018.

Next on the agenda is an expansion into China, Littin says.