Tech investment firm Tritech Media has acquired a 30 per cent holding in South African parking technology provider KaChing, which will see the startup’s app integrated with Tritech’s other portfolio companies.
Launched earlier this year, KaChing is a cashless, ticketless parking system and smartphone app designed to make payments for parking easier for visitors. The startup’s patented tech utilises license plate recognition (LPR) software.
KaChing is currently operating in Johannesburg at Melrose Arch, Morningside Shopping Centre, Thrupps, Campus Square and the Pavilion Shopping Centre, while 10 more facilities will be operational soon across Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. It processes more than 12,000 parking transactions per month.
The investment from Tritech spurred by the opportunity to integrate KaChing with its other location-based technology portfolio companies Ionizr, Geospatial Data Solutions, Spatialedge and ProximityID, allowing marketers to track the entire consumer journey in and around shopping malls.
William Kirsh, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Tritech Media, said by knowing exactly when a consumer’s vehicle enters a retail environment, marketers would be able to deliver relevant advertising to consumers.
“With KaChing we further improve our global-first solution for shopping mall owners and their retail clients to engage precisely with consumers. KaChing has a unique dual offering; firstly, precise-based communications; and secondly, the ability for shopping mall tenants to reward loyalty to their brands by providing free parking,” he said.
Jaco Marais co-founder and managing director of KaChing, said the startup’s technology was an excellent example of disruptive technology brought to market to improve the parking experience in a mature industry.
“Tritech Media positions KaChing to further disrupt this industry with the potential of hassle-free parking for brand-loyal consumers and location-relevant brand advertising. Tritech Media represents a myriad of proven technologies thereby providing an attractive platform for further development,” he said.
The remainder of shares in KaChing are held by the founders and Servest, the largest black-owned facilities management company in Africa. William Kirsh will join the board of KaChing.
Servest Parking is Africa’s leading parking management company with operations in eight countries across Africa, including Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Malawi and Zambia, managing 85,000 parking bays and handling 250,000 cars per day.
Richard Mynhardt, director of Servest Parking, said the KaChing solution would help put Servest and its parking division at the forefront of technology in the parking industry.
“Servest’s aim is to drive technology and solutions-based services to enable our clients to improve the return on their assets with lower risk, higher revenues and quality information. With the Tritech Media group of companies we enhance our product offering and market differentiation, and position the parking division as the industry pioneer across Africa,” he said.
