Member Article

What3words has announced a new partnership with one of the world’s biggest transport companies

Innovative addressing startup what3words has revealed that German transport giant Deutsche Bahn will be utilising its three-word worldwide location system after its venture capital arm invested in the company.

The investment from Deutsche Bahn Digital Ventures will see the infrastructure firm adopt the location platform, which splits the Earth into 3m by 3m square and assigns each one a unique three-word address, to improve its logistics processes and channel it into new technologies such as drones and on-demand deliveries.

The exact investment is undisclosed but the London-based business has said that the investment is in addition to its £6.3m Series B funding round which it closed last year.

Boris Kühn, Managing Director at Deutsche Bahn Digital Ventures enthused about the potential for the technology, hailing its ‘accuracy’ and ‘simplicity’ which he claims will help DB modernise its logistics operations.

He commented: “There’s a clear need for the precision that the what3words system offers, as the world’s best addressed markets embrace technologies that require far higher accuracy than street addresses allow.

“What3words has shown a truly global mindset through the partnerships they have secured and the rate of growth and innovation over the past 6 months has been phenomenal.”

It is clear that larger corporate firms are now beginning to sit up and take notice of the technology after its previous funding round was led by Middle Eastern logistics company Aramex, with further contributions from Intel Capital, Force Over Mass Capital and Mustard Seed.

The company, which is based in North Kensington (at index.home.raft to use its own location format) has also established a string of partnerships with authorities, postal services and businesses in countries which lack a solid, reliable addressing system in the last couple of years.

African nations Cote D’Ivoire and Djibouti have both adopted what3words as the official addressing system for their postal services, in addition to partnerships with an Indian taxi service and a private ambulance aggregator which were announced last Autumn.

Co-Founder Chris Sheldrick, said: “Shaving just a couple of minutes off arrival times can save millions if you are a logistics operator, and can save lives if you are an emergency responder. what3words provides the address precision needed for future technologies – from driverless cars to drones.”