Aparkado is Start-up Champ 2022

The competition focused on mobility and logistics. The Cologne-based start-up won over the jury with an app for truck drivers.

The Cologne-based start-up Aparkado was able to win the final of Start-up Champs 2022 in Hamburg. Kölnbusiness Wirtschaftsförderung initiated the supra-regional competition together with Berlin Partner, Hamburg Invest, Munich Startup and Werk1 for the third time. This year, the focus was on the topics of mobility and logistics.

Aparkado convinced the jury with an app for truck drivers designed to help make routes more efficient. With the app, drivers can access information about free parking spaces and ramps on their routes. "We want to make sure drivers park, load and live better, and winning Start-up Champs gives us a boost to get closer to that goal," says Roland Moussavi, co-founder of Aparkado. Prizes await the winners, such as participation in Slush - Europe's largest start-up event - or even SXSW 2023, a combination of festival, trade exhibition and conference in the US.

Moussavi founded the Cologne-based company in 2020 together with Philipp Henn. Using satellite images, the technology detects free and occupied parking spaces next to the highway. An algorithm then distributes the trucks to free parking spaces. In the future, the founders want to integrate other functions into the app, such as a fuel card for paying at the gas station.