ParkEagle beats fellow mobility startups to win Get in the Ring

The rapidly-rising parking solutions startup ParkEagle won the second Amsterdam edition of Get In The Ring Amsterdam on Thursday the 29th of September. Through its visionary parking sensor, ParkEagle discovered an empty parking spot on top of the Get in The Ring winners podium and decided to take it. The startup that aims to solve the world’s parking problems beat taxi wifi platform Cabture for the top spot. Motorbike sharing platform Motoshare landed the bronze medal. With carparking, taxi’s and motorbikes claiming all three spots on the winners podium, it was a big night for mobility-related startups.

Big Bang

ACE Venture Lab and EYnovation hosted the heavyweight pitching competition as part of Amsterdam Capital Week. The event took place at The Amsterdam Science Park in Café Oerknal, (Big Bang). Not only a great name for a bar at a Science faculty, but also a fitting location to host an event where competitors battle it out in the ring. Head of Ace Venture Lab Erik Boer explained at this very location the digital Big Bang took place as well, as the first email ever sent from Continental Europe to the US was posted from here. He event went a bit Al Gore by claiming: “If there is ever a place where internet started, it is here”. Then ringmaster Keith Wallace introduced the audience to the six finalists that were going to deliver big bangs to each other. Here is how the night unfolded once the participants entered the ring:

Motoshare vs Klup

After a flying start, the PR lady from seniors community platform Klup let her guard down when she admitted to her startup not having a business plan yet. When it turned out Klup also did not have any technology experts among its founders, while the representative from Motoshare explained their team consisted of the right mix of self-proclaimed “hustlers, hipsters and hackers”, it turned into an easy victory for the bike sharing platform.

Gyre vs ParkEagle

The second battle of the night was between ParkEagle and eco-startup Gyre, that plans to replace plastic bags with a fold up bag the size of a bank card. When Gyre couldn’t show their bag for legal reasons it was like a boxer saying he couldn’t show his punches, which led to a quick K.O. and gave ParkEagle an easy ride into the vacant finals spot.

Cabture vs Tradeyourtrip

It looked like Cabture was going hit the canvas almost straight away by forgetting to explain what they actually do in their opening statement. It turned out to be just a rope-a-dope, as Cabture quickly recovered by effectively explaining the potential of their product. Set against the debatable viability of Tradeyourtrip, a travel startup that first needs to change the aviation industry’s non-transferability of plane-tickets before its concept can work, Cabture came out as the winning contestant.

Unanimous Jury decision

Once the three candidates for the winners podium had emerged, it was up to the jury to pick a winner. Jury members Johan Van Mil (Investor for Peak Capital), André ten Wolde (CEO for Domino’s Pizza Benelux) and Maarten Keswiel (editor for Sprout) were unanimous in their decision and declared ParkEagle the winner of Get In The Ring Amsterdam 2016. This means ParkEagle CMO Juriaan Karsten will be off to represent his company in the global finals. Rumor has it this event may take place in Singapore. There will be another Dutch startup going to the global edition of Get in The Ring, as the winner of The Dutch final will also get to pitch on a global stage. This Dutch final will take place in The Hague on Thursday the 17th of November.

Photo by Fred van Diem, provided by ACE Venture Lab.