Papaya Technologies has today unveiled Europe’s first dedicated marketplace for commercial e-bikes, e-cargo bikes, e-mopeds and e-vans.
With cities and governments doubling down on their net-zero policies, fleet managers are under pressure to electrify their fleets.
Papaya’s B2B marketplace is a one-stop-shop designed to remove the barriers to fleet electrification.
“We’re trying to build the biggest ecosystem of sustainable vehicles in the world,” Papaya’s Co-Founder and CEO Santi Ureta told Zag Daily.
On the vehicle side of the marketplace is a comprehensive selection of e-bikes, e-cargo bikes, e-mopeds and e-vans.
Service providers can also list their services, such as maintenance packages, financing options, chargers or IoT, on the marketplace for fleet managers to purchase as a standalone service or to add to a vehicle they selected in the vehicle marketplace.
The platform’s value lies in its ability to empower companies to discover new sustainable vehicles and partners, helping them make informed decisions on how best to electrify their fleets.
It also allows users to compare offerings, find the EV that matches their range, load and price requirements, while streamlining communications and operational workflows.
The fleet industry’s biggest pain points
Papaya is looking to solve what it believes are the fleet industry’s biggest challenges – an opaque supply and fragmented market.
As there is no common operating system, this means limited visibility of a fleet’s current status, which results in enormous inefficiencies, said the startup. Geographical barriers compound the challenge with fleets having to find regional and local solutions in each market they operate in.
Zag spoke with Co-Founder Santi Ureta about what drew him to launch the marketplace. Ureta has more than a decades experience working for last-mile logistic tech companies and was one of the early employees at Deliveroo.
“I experienced first-hand the challenges of electrifying and managing a fleet as the first employee of delivery firm Dija, now owned by Gopuff,” said Ureta.
“Think tedious Google searches and multiple tabs to identify the right service providers, endless supplier calls to understand their propositions, and then I had to build a massive spreadsheet for all the vehicle types and price offerings to compare apples to apples.
“That’s why I wanted to build a simple platform to help others throughout the whole process, so that fleet managers and service providers can achieve all their operational and decarbonisation objectives faster.”
Joining the hub
Fleet managers and businesses are being invited to try the marketplace to begin electrifying their vehicles.
There are already over 100 vehicles and services listed on the marketplace from leading companies such as Vok, Cake, Askoll, EAV and Fettle, with more confirmed to join over the coming months.
The platform is now live in multiple countries including the UK, Spain, France, and Germany, with plans to expand across every major European country.
Building an agnostic ecosystem
Papaya’s marketplace complements its existing vehicle management platform, which offers services like fleet optimisation, creating a comprehensive ecosystem which aims to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles.
“The ecosystem is designed to connect fleet operators, dealers, OEMs and any service providers with a marketplace full of widgets that you can pick and mix and manage all from one single operating system.”
Looking ahead, Zag asked Ureta if he could provide any teasers as to what other marketplace features are being developed.
“All I can say at this stage is that we’re going to build this platform out so that it also serves the secondhand market, as we want to make these vehicles as accessible and affordable for everyone. This would be another step forward on our central mission to make commercial fleets more sustainable.”
