Exclusive: This is Volkswagen's new corporate start-up

The young company is called Cito. Gregor Stock, who is responsible for Mobility-as-a-Service at Volkswagen, will be the head of the company. The project is due to be launched this summer.

Cito is the name of Volkswagen's latest corporate start-up, which means "in a hurry". In this case, the name, which is pronounced "cito", also says it all, because the new start-up is to operate in the courier services sector. According to Startbase information, the first spin-off of the VW Group in the field of "Transportation-as-a-Service" wants to start already in the summer of 2021.

The spin-off is part of the new strategy at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles (VWN) to focus more on "as-a-service models". To this end, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles has set up a separate division into which other projects besides Cito will fall. Back in February this year, VWN showed off a project for autonomous driving as part of its new strategy, which is set to launch commercially in 2025. The ride-pooling service MOIA has already been on German roads for some time.

On Thursday, the Wolfsburg-based automaker will unveil the startup, whose logo is an orange "C," at the annual press conference of Volkswagen's commercial vehicle division. However, Startbase Radar tracked down the start-up earlier in the commercial register. According to the report, it was registered with Volkswagen in early March with an address in Wolfsburg. According to the entry, the young startup's goal is to "develop and operate a digital courier service platform."

The funding comes from a Volkswagen fund

The CEO of the new corporate start-up will be Gregor Stock, a Volkswagen veteran. After studying mechanical and automotive engineering in Aachen, he was drawn to Volkswagen, where from 2008 he worked on autonomous driving, chassis control systems, the charging infrastructure for electromobility and smart mobility, among other things. Since February 2020, he has been project manager for "corporate startups" at VWN.

On Cito's platform, customers will be able to book time-critical transports or direct trips, track and document their shipment, among other things. Cito acts as a purely digital brokerage platform and is said to be aimed at corporate customers. Within a minute, companies should be able to order a courier service, Cito then wants to find the right provider and bring company and courier service together.

The idea for Cito came from two VW employees who now work as team members in the start-up. The young company is initially being financed by Volkswagen Innovation Fund II and the Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles budget. Together with Porsche Consulting, the Cito team has developed the platform in recent weeks and has already tested it on the market. In addition to the pure potential as a platform, VWN hopes to be able to draw conclusions about requirements for light commercial vehicles.