Validated CEO Tov Arneson pitches at Techstars Seattle Demo Day. (GeekWire Photo)
Reach Now is bringing Seattle startup Validated under its roof as the joint mobility venture between BMW and Daimler continues to expand its offerings.
Validated allows businesses and employers subsidize transportation costs for people traveling to their locations. To provide those incentives, Validated partners with public transit agencies and new mobility services like ride-hailing apps and rentable, free-floating bikes, scooters, and cars.
Validated will continue to operate as a standalone brand, the company said in a blog post announcing the acquisition. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Validated had five employees at the time of the acquisition. The two co-founders will depart while the other three will stay on board. Validated is a graduate of the Techstars Seattle accelerator.
“As Mobility-as-a-Service becomes mainstream, loyalty programs and business partnerships will be an essential piece of the puzzle,” Reach Now North America CEO Nat Parker said in a statement.
Last year, Daimler and BMW announced a new joint venture designed, in part, to help the automakers compete more aggressively with sharing economy companies such as Uber, Lyft and Lime. The deal brought together a variety of mobility businesses, including ReachNow, car2go, moovel, and mytaxi.
Validated will be acquired by Portland-based moovel, which is combining with BMW’s car-sharing service ReachNow as part of a rebranded “Reach Now” arm of the new joint venture.
ReachNow launched its free-floating car-share service in Seattle in 2016 and then expanded to Portland. The company also launched in Brooklyn but later shut down service there.