We are happy to officially announce our successful investment in Cologne-based mobility startup Pinkbus. Being convinced they can conquer the European bus market, we wanted to let everyone know, why we invested in Christian, Tino and their idea.
Team
When we met the Pinkbus founders for the first time, we could feel their energy, their willingness to succeed with their startup. What impressed us, was their deep knowledge about the ground transportation market in Germany, their competitors and existing as well as yet-to-come regulations. Christian and Tino seem to perfectly match each other, both personally and professionally. Coming from a family business in ground transportation, Christian has a profound expertise in how to build a fleet, manage bus drivers and analyzing routes and capacities. Tino adds the technical skills to that set. From previous experiences as entrepreneur and consultant, he knows how to create a great user experience and a reliable technical infrastructure Pinkbus can rely on.
But it’s not only the founders we are convinced of, it’s also their team. Christian and Tino managed to nail their first hires and to get complimentary folks on board which totally add value to the business. Having a team of 8 people now, Pinkbus manages its ressources highly efficient, generating great output. Especially in the early days, we see this as an important skill for founders.
Product
Express routes without stops in between at a fixed rate at all time, that’s what Pinkbus stands for. Guests easily understand this concept and find it super attractice. Especially because there are further free-of-charge benefits like seat reservation, Wifi, extra legroom and much more. Right now there are six routes between four cities (Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt and Dusseldorf) in Germany which Pinkbus operates, while constantly adding new cities to its transport network. In a rapidly growing and moving market like ground transportation it is highly important to build a product, guests can easily adapt and use. That’s what Pinkbus could achieve so far.
As Venista Ventures we support the team in further iterations of their product, assisting in setting up a mobile booking engine, enhancing the customer journey and further shaping Pinkbus’ value proposition.
Market
Honestly, we have never used a bus to get from A to B over a longer distance. It’s always rather been by plane or train. And when thinking about taking the bus, most people automatically think about Flixbus – fair enough as they’ve got more than 90 % market share here. However, Pinkbus has found a niche to grow into, being able to reduce travel time by up to 2.5 hours per route, which equals to approx. 33 % time saving. The magic word is express. No stops in between start and end point (except for the legally demanded ones) let people arrive at their destination faster and also cause less CO2 emissions.
We believe, that Pinkbus will conquer its niche in the market, providing a real alternative to FlixBus and other operators. Christian and Tino definitely have the spirit and the skills, to get this done. We are happy to be part of this journey – let’s rock this!