Finding parking just got easier; ParkWhiz helps drivers find a place
Chicago Sun-Times, Oct 8, 2007 by Brad Spirrison
Garages often house businesses in their infancy, but very rarely do they inspire them. This is a good thing for Aashish Dalal, who believes there are lots of opportunities in the fragmented $30 billion parking arena.
"This is not a sexy industry," said Dalal, who turned 30 last week and earlier this year launched Internet service ParkWhiz. ParkWhiz operates a marketplace for individuals who want to buy and sell access to parking spaces online. Last month, the company inked a deal with the Lyric Opera of Chicago that allows it to market valet parking spaces to the theater's patrons.
"We are creating a platform to allow anyone at anytime to find and reserve parking," Dalal said.
ParkWhiz charges a dual commission for the effort. People buying access to a space are charged a 10 percent service fee on top of whatever price is published at www.ParkWhiz.com.
Sellers also pay ParkWhiz a 15 percent bounty. The three-person company generates most of its revenue through these transactions, and was initially funded via friends and family investments.
Dalal, who originally is from Pittsburgh and holds degrees from Northwestern and DePaul, is seeking to raise $1.5 million in venture capital financing.
Beyond the commissions ParkWhiz receives from operating the marketplace, Dalal says there is value in the data his company is accumulating. In Chicago and other markets including New York City, Philadelphia and San Francisco, ParkWhiz is mapping out ways for users to obtain parking information -- including proximity to garages and their operating hours.
"You will see all this data integrated within global positioning systems and mobile devices," he said. "We believe that the data we own and hold will be extremely valuable to whoever enters this market. Parking will be a part of the travel industry."
Last spring, well before getting plucked by Nokia, Chicago-based digital navigation firm Navteq honored ParkWhiz during its annual LBS Global Challenge. ParkWhiz was granted $10,000 in cash and $75,000 in Navteq software licenses for advances it made in mobile parking-information search. ParkWhiz is also nominated for a 2007 Chicago Innovation Award.
With the Lyric partnership in place, Dalal is now pursuing deals to accommodate parking needs for local sports franchises. Millennium Parking is also a partner. Further, Dalal is talking to Chicago- based Standard Parking Corp. and InterPark about marketing their excess parking inventories.
The industry might not be sexy, but ParkWhiz seems to have a novel approach to the space.
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