Skip to main content

MaaS Finland aims to revolutionise the global transportation market

Mobility-as-a-service company MaaS Finland commenced operations on 1 February with funding from private investors and the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation Tekes. Other investors are Transdev, a French transportation organisation, Karsan Otomotiv Sanayii and Ticaret, a Turkish car-industry company. Other shareholders include InMob Holdings of Cyprus; Neocard; Korsisaari; GoSwift; MaaS Australia; Goodsign; IQ Payments; and Delta Capital Force. MaaS Finland founder Sampo Hietanen holds a
February 9, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
Mobility-as-a-service company MaaS Finland commenced operations on 1 February with funding from private investors and the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation Tekes.

Other investors are Transdev, a French transportation organisation, Karsan Otomotiv Sanayii and Ticaret, a Turkish car-industry company. Other shareholders include InMob Holdings of Cyprus; Neocard; Korsisaari; GoSwift; MaaS Australia; Goodsign; IQ Payments; and Delta Capital Force. MaaS Finland founder Sampo Hietanen holds a ten percent stake in the company.

Sampo Hietanen, MaaS Finland’s CEO and the original developer of the concept, has set himself the goal of reshaping the world’s transportation markets.

He says MaaS Finland intends to serve as an operator between transport services providers, users and third parties. It will combine all the existing transport services into a single mobile application on the ‘single-ticket principle’ and offer personalised transport plans tailored to customer needs.

“Digitisation will reshape the transportation industry. Our goal is to form a ‘Finnish Netflix’ in transportation and change the way people use transport services. In a couple of years, MaaS will either be Finland’s new Nokia and a major employer or I’ll be out of work,” remarks Hietanen.

The Government’s ambition is to turn Finland into a pioneer of smart digitized transportation and make it a major export product.

“We need to seize this opportunity and move ahead quickly before somebody else beats us to it with a competing concept,” warns Hietanen.

ITS Finland estimates that by 2020, the new transport services could give work to 20,000 people in Finland.

Related Content

  • MaaS Market Conference debates transport’s digital dilemma
    January 10, 2019
    A major restructuring of transport services is underway in a growing number of cities worldwide as new consumer-lead business models threaten the future of traditional operators. That’s the message Paul Campion, CEO of UK innovation agency Transport Systems Catapult, will give to delegates at the opening of ITS International’s 2019 MaaS Market Conference (20-21 March, Inmarsat Conference Centre, London). Campion will argue that the digitisation of transport is driving a move from a supplier-centric system
  • MaaS: A global wave that’s starting to break
    January 3, 2024
    Mobility as a Service – or whatever we’re going to end up calling it – makes sense in a world which is looking for less carbon-intensive ways of getting around. John Nuutinen of SkedGo talks to Adam Hill
  • Jakarta announces new MaaS scheme
    April 20, 2021
    Mobility as a Service solution will be provided by consortium including Lyko and Thales
  • Hamburg’s on-demand alternative to commuting by car
    December 5, 2017
    As Hamburg is confirmed as the host for the 2021 ITS World Congress, David Crawford looks at the city’s moves towards enabling MaaS-type operations. Germany’s second-largest city, Hamburg, is pinning its civic reputation on having its promised all-electric, on-demand, shuttle bus ridesharing service up and running by 2018. Partners in the three-year project are regional metro and bus service provider Hamburger Hochbahn and Volkswagen Group’s Berlinbased mobility innovation subsidiary Moia, which was set