All posts in SNCF
The giants behind the startups: meet Orange Fab
Starting up in the tech world is a daunting experience. Some make it into incubators or accelerators to get that extra nudge on the way to success. Offering such guidance is a win-win situation: while startups get help, big groups stay on top of the innovation race. Meet Orange Fab France, the accelerator of the […]
SNCF launches its ambitious, transformative #DIGITALSNCF agenda
SNCF embarking on an ambitious, multi-year agenda to drive the complete digital transformation of their business. #DIGITALSNCF comprises several big initiatives focused on 4 principal areas including Open Data, Big Data, Design and Connected Objects. Some of the key initiatives include using tablets for maintenance of their train system, partnering with startups to develop and launch new […]
All aboard! European train eTicketer Capitaine Train now available in English
Capitaine Train, an online train ticket vendor which recently raised €2,5M from investors Index Ventures in order to continue its growth, announced today that its slick UX and aggregated ticket prices are now available in English (in addition to German & French). Launched last year with the intention of disrupting the gigantic train travel industry in […]
100 French Train Stations will have Free Wifi in 2013
SNCF has been stepping up its transition into the digital age of late and now is taking an even bigger step forward. This past Friday, Fleur Pellerin and transport minister Frédéric Cuvillier announced a range of new digital initiatives that SNCF would put into place in the coming months. The biggest announcement was that by […]
SNCF riders increasingly interested in buying their tickets via Google or Amazon
A far-reaching study conducted by Accenture across 8 European countries revealed that significant numbers of train riders would buy their tickets via Google or Amazon if they could. Google leads the way in the minds of riders as the best potential source for finding train tickets as 55% overall and 45% for Amazon. Facebook came […]
JCDecaux bringing real Open Data for Paris bike riders
Paris, like many other French cities, has a network of bicycle stations called Velib, where people with (very cheap) subscriptions can take a bike for free for as long as a half-hour. However, up until now, the data of what stations are full of available bikes, and which have space to put one back, was […]
SNCF starts beta testing door-to-door service in Aix En Provence
Over the holidays, France’s largest train service SNCF quietly announced a new service, named porte à porte, which allows travelers to book not only their train ticket, but a taxi to and from the departure and arrival train station. The service takes into account expected delays, and assures passengers that taxi’s will wait in the case of […]
SNCF iOS app now stores user info. Can Capitaine Train compete?
I wrote a little while ago about a startup called Capitaine Train, which raised $2 Million in order to bring a unified train travel ticketing experience. I have been outspoken about my lack of conviction about this business model – it’s not quite the kayak of the train travel industry, and their largest value-added is […]
Zilok Auto snags €1.5M from Jaina & the new Ecomobilité Ventures
ZIlok Auto announced yesterday a new round of funding from Marc Simoncini’s Jaina Capital & Ecomobilité Ventures, a Joint Venture fund by SNCF, Total & Orange. Zilok Auto is a peer-to-peer car rental service which hopes to help you monetize the 90% of the time you don’t use your car in order to subsidize the €6,000/year […]
MiddleVR brings 3D apps to Virtual Reality
Two weeks ago I presented VRGeeks, an association promoting Virtual Reality (VR) among hackers and technology enthusiasts. Still on the VR topic, allow me to introduce I’m in VR, a Telecom ParisTech-incubated startup that develops software that aims to simplify the creation of VR applications. MiddleVR, their first realisation, is a Unity plugin that bridges the gap between […]