PrettyGreen and Bink Founder Teams up To Launch SKOOT
The First And Only Carbon Negative Lift-Sharing App For Friends
PrettyGreen Founder, Mark Stringer, has teamed up with Greg Gormley, Founder of loyalty app Bink, to launch SKOOT, the first and only carbon-negative lift-sharing start-up. Securing over £1.6m in funding, SKOOT provides an alternative to public transport, connecting friends who drive, with friends who need a lift.
As a result of changing transport habits, the UK start-up is on a mission to build a global social network to fulfil friends' mobility needs, enabling them to travel together in a safe, carbon-negative way, at the touch of a button.
SKOOT is the brainchild of entrepreneur, Greg Gormley, who wanted to build an app to make the lift-sharing experience easier, safer and more affordable than ever before. The idea came about following Gormley’s daughter not coming home one night, and discovering she was giving lifts to friends from one party to another, via Snapchat.
Independent, award winning, creative agency, PrettyGreen, with its sister experience agency, The Producers, have been leading the marketing for the launch of the start-up. The launch plan includes, brand ambassadors, social media advertising, content, influencer and advocacy and PR.
The free app launched on iOS and Android last week and has been designed to tackle the societal mobility crises facing the country; rising cost of motoring, disappearing bus routes and now the COVID-related issues of public transport.
SKOOT cleverly links friends and maps the best travel route, enables auto collection of payment for petrol and running costs (so there’s no awkward WhatsApp message chasing for that fiver or promised Nando’s that never appears), and then carbon offsets the whole journey by planting a tree for every three rides undertaken.
When a driver registers their car on the app, a check is completed with the DVLA to ensure the car is roadworthy, along with scanning in to check they have a valid driving licence and identify the CO2 rating of the vehicle. This allows SKOOT to calculate the exact CO2 created every month and pay for the offset to the tune of 110% with each passenger contributing 5p per trip.
Greg Gormley, CEO of SKOOT commented: “I wanted a true partner to help me realise my vision, and having worked with Strings and the team previously, after our first conversation over dinner, I could tell he was as passionate and driven as I was to turn the idea into a reality. We have spent the last year working tirelessly together to create an App and brand framework that I believe is inspirational and ground-breaking, and the Team at PrettyGreen and The Producers have been a brilliant integrated partner for us."
Mark Stringer, Co-founder of SKOOT and CEO of PrettyGreen, added: “SKOOT’s been designed to address the huge issues of mobility, debt, safety and the environment, so we’re excited about the potential and the launch. Co-founding SKOOT was an easy decision as it aligned with my original vision for the agency to help launch start-ups.
We’ve always been passionate about supporting start-ups, including helping them to launch and scale, because they have an amazing antenna for the future; re-writing playbooks, creating new markets and seeking out marketing channels more traditional brands can’t employ. We have all been on an incredible journey to launch SKOOT and it’s so exciting to see the idea to come to life.”
Jessica Hargreaves, Group MD of PrettyGreen and The Producers, said: “SKOOT is an exciting project for the team across both agencies as we can really get creative and live by our ethos to be less ordinary. It pulls on the various specialisms we have from experiential at The Producers to content, influencer and advocacy, and PR at PrettyGreen. We love a disruptor in a category”
The start-up has grown rapidly, and now employs 12 full time staff, and following a UK launch, plans to expand across Europe, North America, Canada and Australia.
SKOOT is one of thousands of businesses that applied to the Innovate UK fund, and has been selected to receive a £50,000 grant to help support its launch.