MaaS Global, creator of Whim app, acquired by umob following bankruptcy

MaaS platform umob – which fully integrates the use of shared mobility, taxi and public transport in one app – has announced its acquisition of MaaS Global.

The Finnish mobility scale-up – which is active in Vienna, Antwerp, Helsinki, Turku, Tokyo, Birmingham and throughout Switzerland – filed for bankruptcy in March 2024. Following the acquisition, umob has now gained the technology behind MaaS Global and the Whim app.

MaaS Global is the company behind the Whim app, which allows users to view all available travel options in one app. The company, founded in Finland in 2015, is considered the world’s first Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) company and Whim the first commercial MaaS service developed. The scale-up raised over $75 million in funding from NordicNinja, BP Ventures, Toyota and Mitsubishi, among others. The Whim app was rolled out in several major cities and counted 120 employees at its peak. Despite paving the road for MaaS around the world, its one million users and over 30 million rides made with Whim, bankruptcy was filed in March 2024. The Rotterdam-based umob has been appointed by the curator as the takeover party.

umob aims to continue the operation of Whim under its own name and build on the decade of MaaS experience of MaaS Global. “The acquisition of MaaS Global represents an acceleration in our mission to make umob a global MaaS platform. We soft-launched in the Netherlands [in 2023], so that we could optimise our app, but now we are growing quickly. We successfully integrated shared mobility providers of mopeds and bikes like Cooltra, Donkey Republic and GO Sharing, in addition to public transport and taxi services. Our aim is to integrate all forms of mobility. Joining forces with MaaS Global, who has undoubtedly integrated more transport than anyone on a global level, enables us to faster scale throughout Europe,” said Raymon Pouwels, Co-Founder of umob.

“I am happy to see all of the hard work and experiences of MaaS Global put into good use with umob. MaaS as a concept is still at its infancy and umob represents the consumer facing approach that will drive the concept forward,” said Sampo Hietanen, the Founder of MaaS Global and the inventor behind the concept MaaS.