Alice Park pitches at RADIUS Mentor Night, Dec 5, 2013
A real-time carpooling app and a client of the Beedie School of Business’ social innovation lab and venture incubator RADIUS, has signed an agreement to make Simon Fraser University its first customer.
go2gether is a social enterprise that utilizes a web application to provide an automated carpool matching service. As part of the inaugural cohort of RADIUS Ventures, go2gether has already been providing SFU students, staff and faculty with ride-sharing services on a trial basis for the past year.
The service offers SFU a solution to managing long-term parking and infrastructure costs, while providing transportation alternatives to a growing population. In doing so, it not only helps students, staff, and faculty save money and reduce their carbon impact, but also contributes to offsetting the need for future investments in transportation.
“After a year of piloting our service with SFU we are really excited about progressing to the next stage with this official service agreement,” said Beedie School of Business alumna Alice Park, CEO and co-founder of go2gether. “Reaching this important milestone serves to validate the service model we have developed, and the support from all those involved at RADIUS has been instrumental in our achievements.”
Users sign up with their university email and post their details and preferences to receive alerts about available carpools. Before meeting face-to-face, drivers and riders can view other users’ profiles and reviews, ensuring safety and community trust.
go2gether has already received financial support from Vancity, and is now preparing for its first round of fund raising to expand to other universities and large organizations across Canada.
Park co-founded go2gether as a student after completing her Certificate in Corporate Social Responsibility (now called the Corporate Environment and Social Sustainability Certificate) and taking the Bus 453 Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and Bus 495 Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator classes offered at the Beedie School of Business.
“go2gether has an amazing team and a tremendous vision, and this agreement will serve to solve a key transportation challenge for SFU,” said Donovan Woollard, Director of RADIUS Ventures. “Having started in a student venture course, been incubated at SFU’s Venture Connection, and then been further developed through RADIUS Ventures, go2gether’s success speaks volumes for the venture development services available at SFU.”
Launched in spring 2013, RADIUS (RADical Ideas, Useful to Society) seeks to change business education and launch high-impact solutions to social challenges. RADIUS Ventures focuses specifically on “Radical Ventures” with a strong mandate to create social and environmental wellbeing, and is partially funded by Vancity.
View the go2gether site for more information and to sign up.