RideScout

RideScout, founded in December 2011 by U.S. Army veterans Joseph Kopser and Craig Cummings, emerged as a mobility aggregation platform designed to simplify urban transportation. Kopser, a West Point graduate with a Master's from Harvard and a background in military logistics, conceived the idea while commuting to the Pentagon. Cummings, who also graduated from West Point and holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University, brought his experience as a Military Intelligence Officer and co-founder of other tech ventures to the company. Their shared military background in logistics and planning provided a strong foundation for tackling the complexities of urban transit.

The company developed a mobile application that aggregated various ground transportation services into a single interface, allowing users to compare options in real-time. Hailed as the "Kayak for ground transportation," the app displayed a comprehensive view of public transit, taxis, ride-hailing operators, car-sharing, bike-sharing, and parking services, which could be sorted by price and arrival time. Initially launched in beta at SXSW in Austin in early 2013 under the original name GoingMyWay, the platform quickly expanded, and by late 2014 was available in nearly 70 North American cities. The business model focused on providing a seamless, one-stop experience for consumers, addressing the fragmented nature of the urban mobility market where individual providers operated in silos.

RideScout's trajectory was marked by rapid growth and significant milestones. The company secured approximately $2.6 million in funding from investors including the Austin Technology Incubator and Mercedes-Benz. This early success and clear value proposition led to its acquisition in September 2014 by moovel, a subsidiary of Daimler AG and the parent company of car2go. Following the acquisition, RideScout continued to operate from its Austin headquarters and later acquired GlobeSherpa in 2015 to integrate mobile transit ticketing capabilities. In 2016, RideScout and GlobeSherpa formally merged to become moovel North America. This entity was subsequently acquired by Strategic Mapping in 2020.

Keywords: mobility aggregation, urban transportation, multimodal transit, journey planner, transportation app, real-time transit, ride-sharing aggregator, last-mile connectivity, smart mobility, Joseph Kopser, Craig Cummings, moovel, Daimler, car2go, Austin startup, transportation logistics, transit data, mobile ticketing, car share, bike share, public transit app, mobility as a service, MaaS, ground transportation