Gian-Mattia Schucan, co-founder and co-CEO of FAIRTIQ Ltd, has developed the technology for an uncomplicated digital ticketing solution for local public transport. For this and for successfully completing the SEF.Growth program, the experts awarded FAIRTIQ the SEF.Growth High Potential Label.
"I wanted to do something that would help a lot of people in their everyday lives," says Gian-Mattia in the interview. And lo and behold, this wish came true. After working at SBB as the Head of Ticketing and spearheading major projects within the ticketing system, including a large but discarded hardware-based automated ticketing system, he left SBB and founded his own consulting firm. A few months after leaving SBB, Gian-Mattia was not entirely satisfied with the result and began experimenting with digital ticketing solutions on the side. This turned into an entrepreneurial project and he finally took the plunge and founded FAIRTIQ AG to bring this pioneering solution to the market.
Today, many of us are familiar with the solution and use it in everyday life, e.g. in the FAIRTIQ app or in the SBB app function "Easy Ride". You activate the tracker in the app when you get on the bus or train and deactivate it again when you get off. In the meantime, the app has tracked your journey and calculated the cheapest ticket price. This means that no matter how complex the public transport plan is or which route you take, if you know which zones you will and will not pass through on your journey, you will have no problem buying your ticket in time for the right route.
This technology makes it incredibly convenient for the end user, the public transport user. Users even go so far as to say: "Thanks to FAIRTIQ, I've started using public transport and I really like it" or "My 95-year-old neighbor recommended Easy Ride to me". This feedback proves that this type of digital ticket purchase does not exclude older people from using public transport, as it is very easy to use.
The advantages for public transport operators are also worth mentioning. They benefit from an affordable sales channel that requires no infrastructure and offers them additional services such as data analysis. Since tickets are sold via an app, transport companies can also use this channel to support behavioral patterns, e.g. by offering discounts for train journeys at off-peak times. The use of FAIRTIQ technology has increased significantly in recent years. While 100,000 transactions were processed via the software in the first year, today it is 100,000 transactions in half a day. "This growth was made possible by the expansion from a few regions in Switzerland to the whole country, including with the SBB app." FAIRTIQ has also been extended to parts of Austria, Germany and France and will soon also be available in Denmark.
Danish Public Transport Embraces FAIRTIQ's Vision
The introduction of FAIRTIQ technology in Denmark is worth a story. "Fifteen years ago, Denmark introduced a card-based system nationwide. For the past five years, the authority responsible for this system has been planning to make the ticketing system for public transport hardware-free. Over the next two years, our software will replace this system. This is the biggest project in our company's history and will triple the transaction volume," says Gian-Mattia proudly. "A fun fact I'd like to add: the project manager who introduced the card system 15 years ago is now responsible for implementing the software-based ticketing system for us. And he is enthusiastic and impressed by the speed with which we can introduce the system there. The completion of this project is also the next milestone that the scale-up is focusing on. A user test with 10,000 users this spring will mark the next big step.
"I wanted to do something that would help many people in their everyday lives."
- Gian-Mattia Schucan, Founder and Co-CEO FAIRTIQ Ltd
Another interesting fact that other entrepreneurs can learn from is that this Danish project was won after FAIRTIQ lost a smaller tender. "Every time we lost to competitors in smaller tenders, it was followed by a big win. This has taught us not to sink into frustration, but to learn from the situation and make something big out of it," says Gian-Mattia. However, the biggest setback came in 2016, when the BLS announced an equivalent solution to compete with FAIRTIQ shortly before the launch of its technology. "At first we were shocked because we were under the illusion that we could secretly develop something that the world was waiting for and be the only provider. Then we decided to go all in and grew faster than BLS's technology. We started working with them and they eventually became our customers."
While such customer wins are rather above average on the path of an entrepreneur, FAIRTIQ can look back on prestigious awards such as the Swiss Economic Award 2018, the Worldwide UITP Public Transport Award 2019 and the SEF.Growth Label 2023. "These achievements reflect our progress and support the process of building trust with potential new customers. With our great team, our clear vision and the recognition from third parties and awards, we will continue our success story."
The SEF.Growth program supports start-ups and SMEs in overcoming growth hurdles. Since 2012, we have provided support to over 100 start-ups and helped them secure over CHF 200 million in growth capital. The program offers a wide range of services tailored to the needs of start-ups: From validation and strategy assessments to financial and legal advice from experienced experts. Following a successful evaluation, the "SEF.Growth High Potential Label" award strengthens the market position.
SEF.Growth regularly organizes best practice events in collaboration with partners, which offer exclusive insights, practical tips for the scaling process and an exchange with experts and other female founders.