March 04, 2022
Group Ride Share Startup Fetii Launches Crowdfund Campaign
While Matthew Iommi was a senior at Texas A&M University a few years ago, he and a friend made a life-changing discovery as they owned and ran an event shuttle business.
Matthew Iommi, founder and CEO group ride share company Fetii. [Image: Fetii]
“We found that customers were utilizing the service as a substitute to Uber UBER -6% and Lyft LYFT -4.6% because there currently wasn't an efficient solution to transport groups from point A to point B without splitting up the group and taking multiple vehicles adding to emissions and congestion and an inferior transportation experience,” Iommi told Forbes.com.
That led them to launching in August, 2020 Fetii, a ride sharing service that only serves groups using 15-seat vans. Initially funded by the partners selling off an online tutoring service they also owned plus some cash from what Iommi calls “angel investors” the young company has just launched an online crowdfunding campaign on the WeFunder site.
Barely a week into the campaign, as of this writing Fetii has raised almost half of its $500,000 goal. Iommi, who is the company’s CEO, emphatically explains anyone kicking in cash is receiving more than a thank you.
“It's not a donation, not a profit share, it's equity,” Iommi said. “We're raising on a convertible note. It's not a Kickstarter, not a GoFundMe. It's really investing in a private company.”
Currently operating in Austin, Lubbock and College Station, Texas, Iommi says the plan is to use this new cash infusion to expand to other U.S. markets with the stretch goal of going global. In the near-term Fetii will start offering service in Nashville, Tenn. in April with plans to add Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, Texas later this year.
It doesn't take much for Fetii to get started in a new market since its business model doesn't require much overhead. Iommi estimates operations in new markets can become profitable within three months.
Fetii itself is a technology platform and does not own any vehicles. According to Iommi, 80% of its vehicle supply comes from Fetii passenger service providers, or PSP's modeled after Amazon's delivery service provider system. PSPs are separate entities that own a fleet of vans and service Fetii clients.
The other 20% is owned by rental agencies with which Fetii has partnered. If an independent driver wants to drive for Fetii, they can have access to a rental agency van paying a monthly rental insurance fee.
In both cases, Fetii takes a 30% cut of the revenue with Iommi explaining, “We can generate three times the revenue (than a typical ride share trip) in one Fetii trip because we can put in more passengers while still maintaining the cost of the trip.”
Mobile apps used to book rides on Fetii vans and manage payment. [Image: Fetii]
Drivers manage their end, including navigation to and from destinations, through the Fetii Driver app while passengers arrange for and pay for rides via the Fetii Ride app. In a bit of a twist from other ride share services, passengers scan a QR code with their smartphones as they board for access to a UPS check-in where they can select how they want to split the fare among other riders on the trip.
Aside from convenience and efficiency, Iommi touts the use of 15-seat vans as a way of reducing traffic congestion and carbon emissions by transporting more people at a time. While Fetii's current fleets are internal combustion engine vehicles, Iommi says the company hopes to transition to electric vans “within the next five years.”
One can be excused if the name Fetii doesn't immediately ring any bells or telegraph images of friendly folks riding together in a big van. Iommi reveals Fetii is a South Pacific term that means an extension of one's family, and “we provide a unique experience in which you can ride with your friends and all ride together and kind of have an extension of the family with you.”