“Wayla’s next goal is to expand the team through new hires. In addition to drivers also specialised profiles in operations, tech and marketing,’ Mario Ferretti, CSO and co-founder of Wayla, tells Startupbusiness. echoed by CEO and other co-founder Carlo Bettini (pictured here with the team) who anticipates how “For Wayla the news is not finished, in fact it will soon be possible to book a ride in the NExT Pods through our platform. NExT proposes a mobility solution based on modular electric vehicles with a unique form factor, which can be combined to increase capacity during peak hours and decrease it to save up to 75% energy during off-peak hours. This important collaboration marks another goal towards increasingly green mobility solutions, which are high on Wayla’s agenda.
This news comes just days after the startup, which provide a vanpooling service, announced the closing of a pre-seed funding round totalling €900,000. The round comes just a few months after the launch of the service in Milan on 31 October 2024 (which Startupbusiness had anticipated back in August last year), and marks a key step in Wayla’s mission to improve the efficiency of urban transport and reduce its environmental impact.
Wayla raised a total of EUR 900,000 through equity and debt financing, with the participation of investors and business angels including MobilityUp, Moffu Labs, Sullivan Ventures, Luca La Mesa and Marco Cartasegna.
Wayla was born from the desire of its five founders to respond to the increasing difficulty of getting around the city, especially in the evening hours, by proposing an alternative solution that complements the urban mobility options already available. Wayla’s service allows passengers to share journeys, reducing the number of vehicles in circulation during the evening and night hours.
Wayla’s fleet, currently of seven vehicles, is expanding, with plans to grow to nine vehicles by February 2025, while the company continues to recruit to support this growth. The area of Milan where the service is available has been expanded to include the areas of Città Studi, Loreto-Casoretto, Scalo Romana-Romolo, Lorenteggio-Gambara, as well as the area within the city’s third ring, which was previously covered. In the future, the expansion will continue in other areas, aiming in the first phase at consolidation in Milan. The operating window, currently Thursday to Sunday, from 19:30 to 03:00, is also being extended, with the addition of further planned service days.
Since its launch, Wayla’s app has recorded almost 50,000 downloads, making it the third most downloaded app on the Italian app store. The number of rides is growing in double figures month on month, and customer satisfaction is demonstrated by an average ride rating of 4.89 out of 5, with 86 per cent of rides rated with the highest score, the start-up company said in a note.
Partnership with NExT
In early 2025, it will then be possible to book a ride within the NExT Pods through the Wayla platform. NExT designs and realises a mobility solution based on modular electric vehicles with a unique form factor that can accommodate up to 22 standing passengers in just over three metres in length. Thanks to modular capacity, vehicles can combine to increase capacity during peak hours and decrease it to save up to 75 per cent of energy during off-peak hours.
In addition, once docked, NExT modules open inter-vehicle doors allowing passengers to move smoothly between connected vehicles, grouping according to destination, creating a new method of pooling that does not waste passengers’ time. NExT also realises the modular fleet management software system and driver directions and passenger movement for pooling-dynamic.
The Pods will be used for passenger transport in the centre of Milan, the vehicle’s conformation will allow the transport of nine comfortably seated passengers plus driver, in a space of just 3.3 metres, and there will also be a 900-litre interior cargo compartment for bags and luggage. The configurations used will be NExT Vision MaaS and NExT Vision Lounge.
The use of the van pooling system in tandem with the efficiency of NExT’s patented modular system will make it possible to put a unique and competitive product on the road. There is already an implementation plan in the pipeline that will include new cities, beyond Milan, and the possibility of integrating on-board services, thus breaking down the barriers between the transport system and passenger needs.
NeXT, founded in 2017, after entering into a partnership with Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority (RTA) in 2018, to implement the modular transport system, is now also proposing itself to the Italian and European market to make transport more efficient. According to studies corroborated by New York University and University of Southern California research, with its modular and flexible model it is able to guarantee 60% savings in costs and energy consumption.
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