OBOS and AF open garage gates with Parqio
Startup Parqio has an ambitious goal of improving urban environments through its smart garage system. Now it has OBOS and AF Gruppen on board as investors.
When the startup Parqio first saw the light of day in 2019, it took on a previously unsolved task — creating a digital, forward-looking solution for managing garages in cooperatives, housing associations, commercial buildings and industrial buildings.
Two years later the company has significant growth and several housing projects on its client list, and now brings OBOS and AF Gruppen onto the ownership side through Construct Venture and OBOS Oppstart.
A door-opener to the industry
The solution is as simple as it is smart; it lets users and cooperatives seamlessly open garage gates via camera or a specially developed app. A housing cooperative with a closed garage that wants to use Parqio only needs one add-on component from Parqio.
The solution that’s on the market now simplifies the board’s or the manager’s administration of the garage.
Through OBOS Oppstart we want to invest in sustainable companies that help digitalise the construction and real-estate industry for the benefit of our members and customers.
With these investments, Parqio will gain access to OBOS and AF’s projects and the companies’ expertise. For other startups, this has acted as a door-opener to the industry.
We’ve tested the solution in several AF and OBOS projects, with great success.
Set to become the garage’s Airbnb
Parqio’s ambition is to develop the solution further into a platform that enables efficient use of garages, particularly suited to densely built areas. The ambition is for the platform to include integrations with a range of service providers — including car sharing, charging stations, home delivery and home services — that let individuals and property managers use the capacity as they wish.
Parqio can help create more space for the things we want more of in cities, such as more and better cycle paths, green areas and pedestrian streets.
In addition, we make it possible for garage administrators to use the space inside the garage in entirely new ways — for example through new services that come to the garage or rental of spare space. The solution is being developed so that the administration owner can decide whether the services are made available only to the residents connected to the garages. The platform will ensure that the garage gates open at the right time for those with rightful access.
Parqio offers a digital garage key and makes spare garage capacity available as residents’ needs evolve.
About Construct Venture
With its investment in growth companies through Construct Venture, AF Gruppen and OBOS will help create a smarter and more forward-looking supplier industry within construction that also secures the industry’s competitiveness. The collaboration is industrially anchored and based on smart capital, where AF and OBOS, in addition to financial strength, contribute industry expertise, processes and well-functioning systems. The companies make their projects available for testing and developing technology concepts at scale.
About OBOS Oppstart
Through OBOS Oppstart, OBOS invests in startups with the potential to contribute to development and growth in the construction and real-estate industry — with a focus on environment and sustainability, innovation and technology. OBOS works with the companies at an early stage using its own experience, expertise and capital. The goal of all the investments is to help develop good living and urban environments that benefit OBOS members.