iomob and Centrality Announce Joint Venture

iomob and Centrality Announce Joint Venture to Develop Decentralised Protocol for Urban Mobility

Asia Pacific blockchain venture studio to make strategic investment in iomob and help drive business development

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND – 30 August 2018 – Centrality, the Asia Pacific blockchain venture studio, has announced a new joint venture with iomob, a pioneer in decentralised urban mobility.

Centrality will financially and infrastructurally support iomob’s development of a decentralised blockchain mobility protocol that will transform mobility in smart cities through both a strategic investment as well as business development backing.

As part of the new collaboration, iomob and Centrality will also launch Senta Mobility, a joint venture to promote the adoption of the iomob protocol in smart cities around the globe. Centrality will lead Senta’s global business development to elicit further adoption of the protocol by cities and mobility service providers. Centrality and iomob together will develop and incubate new businesses and applications to support the growth of a decentralised mobility network for smart cities around the world.

UShare, a rideshare app business part-owned by Centrality, is the designated supplier of development and domain expertise.

The urban mobility marketplace is expanding rapidly. New entrants like electric scooter sharing, bike sharing, on-demand buses, and autonomous vehicles demonstrate the huge potential for cities to transform the way people move. However, much of this new development is fragmented and drives complexity, duplication, and uneconomical competition.

Meantime, people continue to commute by car, contributing to pollution and congestion in cities worldwide. Studies find that congestion’s global economic cost to cities is likely to be between $1.5 and $2.5 trillion USD.

By rewarding riders, providers, and cities, iomob and Centrality are building a smarter, sustainable, and scalable urban transport ecosystem. The collaboration will create solutions that will nurture a more efficient, cost-effective, incentivising and consumer-friendly mobility system in cities.

iomob's Internet of Mobility (IoM) Protocol uses blockchain technology to provide an open platform enabling these new services to unify as Mobility as a Service (MaaS). Instead of setting up their own systems of operation, mobility operators can get running faster using iomob’s open source hubs to handle booking and matching, payments, customer registration and reputation management. This approach saves money and allows operators to instead focus their efforts on building their brand, customer base and revenue.

iomob’s open approach treats cities as partners by implementing systems that will dramatically improve cities’ access to and comprehension of data from private mobility services. Rather than using retroactive legislation, smart cities can define flexible rules and react in real-time to changes in mobility.

“The iomob team are thrilled to have Centrality’s commitment to the iomob blockchain protocol. Centrality has demonstrated strong vision in identifying blockchain projects with real-world impacts on people and markets, and supporting apps end consumers will really use. We share the same values on decentralisation and inclusive economies. This investment will help iomob unleash the potential of urban mobility solutions in smart cities worldwide,” says Boyd Cohen, CEO of iomob and a smart city expert.

Aaron McDonald, co-founder and CEO of Centrality, adds, “Centrality is in talks with cities around the globe. We understand the problems and the pressure they face in improving public services like transportation, legislation, and identification. This represents a huge opportunity for decentralized platforms – they have the potential to provide solutions for local governments and everyday people. iomob’s smart city credentials make them a compelling partner to help us improve lives in cities around the world, helping people get from A to B quickly, easily and efficiently.”

Phil Williams, the project lead for Centrality’s own mobility protocol, will join the founding team of iomob and in this role, drive support for the imminent launch of Senta Mobility.

About the new relationship between the two companies, Williams says, “When we think about the realms in which digital technologies can most affect our daily lives, cities figure prominently. The way we choose to move in cities will determine the quality of life for hundreds of millions of people. iomob absolutely shares our vision of a mobility ecosystem that smart cities can leverage to reduce pollution and congestion, and make movement more equitable.”

For additional information, please visit iomob and Centrality or to download the iomob press kit, please click here.

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