Moovick helps expats relocate with an algorithm

By Polya Pencheva

Moving from one place to another as an expat can be really difficult. The founders of Moovick faced some personal problems in this area, so they decided to create an online platform that connects moving services to end users. Co-founder Palash Agrawal had a chat with Innovation Origins for today’s installment of the start-up of the day series. He talks about the successes and future plans of the company with us.

How does your platform work?

“At first, we created a simple platform where you can book a handyman, or a moving company can register their services. And users can see it and decide whether to book them or not. Then gradually, after we managed to get more of a budget, we developed an algorithm. This algorithm does that once you post your task on the platform that you want to move your home from Germany to, for example, Copenhagen, it will read your task. It then send notifications to all the movers around you and in Copenhagen.”

“It’s working really well right now. It sends out notifications and once the drivers or movers get the notifications, they can read about your task and then send an offer directly to you. That way, you can collect around 5-10 offers. And then you can decide which offer you want to go with.”

“We also have a chat platform where you can discuss further details. And you can ask questions and receive answers. After that, you can then make a decision.”

“When you think about it, there is a difference from booking a flight ticket or a hotel because that’s pretty standard. But booking a mover is completely different because everything is customized. You have different types of furniture. The building size is different, the time needed to disassemble things is different. So these are things both parties need to know in advance before they sign up. And that’s why this chat is very important.”

Vattenfall is filling up the biggest heat storage facility in Germany – Innovation Origins

45 meters high, 43 meters in diameter, 56 million liters in capacity – these are the dimensions of Germany’s largest heat storage facility. It is scheduled to go into operation at the beginning of next year on the Vattenfall site at Reuter West in Berlin.

What was the thing that triggered you to start Moovick?

“My wife and I wanted to move from one city to another in Germany, and we could not find a reliable service. I could not speak their language. I had to make about 15 rounds with my car to move all the stuff, because the moving companies were very expensive. Then after moving in – we are living near Stuttgart – we understood that we are not the only ones and there are lot of people who have to deal with this problem.”

“Actually, we have seen on Facebook that lot of expats are asking for recommendations about companies or people with vans who offer moving services. It takes up a lot of time to sort out all the tasks when you go to a moving company. That was when we decided that we could create a platform where we can connect a lot of logistic companies and people offering van services to users.”

What challenges did you face on the way?

“The first major challenge was to build the team of Moovick. Because if you don’t have the right people to do the job, then you can never be successful. Finding reliable partners, and reliable employees were the biggest challenges for us. Now, we have a very stable and international team, and everyone is giving 100% to it. The next biggest challenge is making people believe this is a reliable, genuine company. And this comes with time, we completely understand that. But we are doing our best to provide the best service out there. And that is also reflected in our Google and Facebook reviews, people are really happy about us. So bit by bit, we are working through these challenges.”

What makes you really proud?

“Two years ago, I never thought that I would have my own team full of people who I got inspired to do this with and who I could get on board. And here I am after two years. Whether the business succeeds in the future or not, it’s just a matter of time. But for me, I am mostly proud of what I’ve achieved so far, collecting those 10 people who are just as motivated as am I and who also see the future of logistics going completely online. And this is what motivates us to do the work every day.”

Faster, more transparent and cleaner goods transportation thanks to Dutch company from Rotterdam

Did you know that many carriers in the logistics sector are still dependent on ‘old fashioned’ paperwork? Or that there are hundreds of empty trucks driving around in and between European ports every day?

Where do you see Moovick in five years?

“We started in Stuttgart with very basic services, and we didn’t know if it would work out. But when we started getting more clients, we expanded our services to Berlin, Frankfurt and Hamburg. Then we openend our platform in the Netherlands because we know that there’s a huge ex-pat population there too, and they would also appreciate the service. Things are looking really good in the Netherlands right now. And in the next five years, we really do expect that this platform will cover all of Europe, from Norway and Sweden to Italy and Spain.”

Be sure to read other instalments in this series.

Each day, Innovation Origins puts a start-up in the spotlight. Read them all here.