Parkhound Announced as Victorian State Finalist in Telstra Business Awards
July 7, 2015
Parkhound, Australia’s Number 1 Car Park Marketplace has been announced as a Victorian State Finalist in the 2015 Telstra Business Awards to be announced next week at a gala event at the Crown Palladium. Parkhound, which took away the Best Start Up – Victoria at the StartUp Smart Awards earlier this year, has been recognised for their fantastic growth over the last 12 months.
The Telstra Business Awards, established in 1992, is one of the most prestigious small to medium business awards in Australia. Previous winners include health.com.au, Novaris and Ezypay. The judging process which consists of seven stages covers both state and national categories.
Parkhound, which has seen 20% month on month growth for the last year, recently passed $1 million in online bookings and has developed partnerships with Care Park, Ace Parking, Melbourne Musuem, Melbourne Arts Centre and the University of Melbourne.
With the same concept that fuelled the growth of Airbnb and Uber, Parkhound is an online marketplace that connects drivers looking for parking with residents and businesses who have spare parking spaces. Property owners make money from leasing their empty parking space and drivers get a cost effective and hassle free parking experience. Parkhound has developed a site and mobile app that drivers can use to find a space, book a time and go. Motorists can then go directly to their cheap, pre-booked parking space stress free.
Parkhound’s light bulb moment came from an unlikely source – an AFL game. A group of friends decided to drive to a football game last year when inspiration struck. After circling around the ground for 15 minutes on the hunt for parking the group noticed something. There was dozens of empty garages and driveways right near the football ground.
Co-founder, Michael Nuciforo elaborated, “It just hit us. Wouldn’t it be great if we could just knock on someone’s door and ask to park at their place for a small fee?” The idea stuck. “There are unused parking spaces all around us – on private property, in commercial car parks and behind small businesses. We don’t need more parking spaces, we just need to utilise the parking spaces we already have.”
So after testing the idea and seeing some initial interest, the team decided to focus in on the concept. After getting some parking spaces in Melbourne, the team has seen strong organic growth across the country.
Once a booking is made, Parkhound take a commission from the listed price and take care of all the hassles and contracts for the landlord and tenant.
Mr Crocitti said parking was a great way to make money, “Most landlords can expect to earn up to $2-3,000 a year from a single parking space. It’s an excellent asset class as there are no maintenance costs, no repairs, no paint and most of all no bills to deal with.”
Parkhound is also the only car parking service in the world that allows drivers to compare commercial, residential and street parking options giving drivers with a comprehensive online map of parking options. Co-founder, Robert Crocitti elaborated, “We just want drivers to be able to make the best location and price choice for them; whether that’s on-street or off-street parking.”
Parkhound was impressed with the Telstra Business Awards judging process. “It was a tough but enjoyable interview process. The judges asked a lot of in depth questions about how we operate and we were able to highlight why our work culture is so unique” Co-founder, Michael Nuciforo added, “We hope to use the awards as an opportunity to spread the word about our service and help more Australians make and save money from parking.”
Parkhound’s focus over the rest of 2015 is to continue to grow its volume of parking spaces and members. “Being nominated for the awards is reward enough and is a big buzz for the team; if we can win that would be a bonus. Awards provide great recognition and help support the growing start-up ecosystem in this country. It’s great that Telstra continue to support small businesses”, Mr Nuciforo concluded.
About Parkhound
Parkhound is an online community where members can easily exchange and lease parking spaces with other drivers. Local residents and businesses make money from leasing a parking space and drivers get a cost effective and hassle free parking experience.
For further information
Parkhound
Robert Crocitti, Co-founder
+61 422 145 563
robert.crocitti@parkhound.com.au