THE SWAMP IOT FACTORY

Short description of the app/service

Botcar is an electronic brain which transforms old cars into connected cars for less than €100 of investment. Unlike other solutions, BotCar works as a platform providing vertical suites of different apps to manage all the driving requirements related to safety, maintenance, fuel consumption and productivity for Smart Cities, insurance companies, fleet management and car repair services

Botcar comprises a plug & play hardware device and a set of applications for mobile and desktop. It is easily connected to the standard OBD port of a vehicle in order to capture all the information from the car’s sensors. The information is sent in real time to a server to be stored and processed with feedback given to the user through different applications. Both the user and authorized third parties can interact with the car in real-time through the applications and create customized automations.

Botcar intends to generate revenue from subscription fees and additionally from cross-selling connected car services. In short, it aims to become the CITRIX Podio of the connected car services for conventional cars.

Problem being addressed / business opportunity / USP

There is currently a gap in the market to meet consumer demand for connected cars both in the B2C and in the B2B markets. On the demand side, today’s consumers take connectivity for granted wherever they are and the car is no exception. Furthermore, municipalities recognize that they can improve safety and decrease traffic congestion on their roads by combining real-time data from the vehicle with growing amounts of external road information (Smart City boost). The insurance industry realizes that leveraging data directly from the vehicle can help them bring better pricing and risk adjustment to drivers compared with using externally generated and extrapolated data, such as a speeding fine (Usage Based Insurance – UBI). At the same time, on the supply side, as design cycles for cars take years, only a few big automotive companies are able to market connected car features. 220 million cars will be connected by 2020, but connected cars shipped globally by that time will represent less than 10% of motor vehicles in use.

The Team

Xabier Chao García (co-founder and CEO) raised €12 million to distribute among European startups as co-founder of Fundingbox.com. Xabier has a background as international business developer specialized in innovation funding, with a wide experience of Europe and Latin America. Since 2000 he has worked mainly with global corporations and local governments. Together with Jorge Fernández, he led the development of the Galician Innovation Agency Platform (www.pinng.es). The two founders have been working together since 2004. (https://www.linkedin.com/pub/xabier-chao-garc%C3%ADa/19/312/220)

Jorge Fernández Valdés (co-founder & CTO) is a serial entrepreneur and Knowledge Angel at Cores TS, a consultancy and web incubator which helps others to realize their ideas. He co-founded Buydeal, an e-commerce startup, and Living Indie, a technology startup and platform to stream live concerts. Jorge has more than 10 years of experience designing and building internet solutions for public and private entities. (https://es.linkedin.com/in/fdezvaldes)

Javier Montero and Manuel Varela (both full-time employees) are winners of the Best IoT Solution prize at the FIWARE Excellence Challenge as part of the Wadjet project. Javier has worked at Televés and Blusens as a hardware developer for the past 5 years. Manuel is a recent IT engineering graduate and a professional musician.