Business flows in from China for Sheffield telematics firm
TELEMATICS firm The Floow has made a milestone agreement with a CHinese car service company.
Bejing’s CarSmart Technology, a subsidiary of listed IT solutions firm United Electronics Co signed their deal at the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills at the sixth UK-China Internet Forum, witnessed by Vice Minister Zhuang Rongen from the Cyberspace Administration Centre, China and Ed Vaizey MP, Digital Economy Minister
The Floow is taking a crack at the Chinese market from its base in Sheffield, and currently supports insurers including Direct Line Group, RSA, and AAA through predictive analytics and end-user services.
The firm has grown to a team of 50 since it was established in 2012 and uses data analytics to deliver insight for users and insurance providers as well as capture data on vehicle-generated pollution.
This deal is the first step in the formation of a joint venture between The Floow and CarSmart, which currently serves 3.2 million Chinese users.
Aldo Monteforte, chief executive of The Floow, said: “We are excited to now be in a position to publicly share The Floow and CarSmart’s joint vision and work to date on delivering telematics solutions that will contribute to safer and cheaper mobility for Chinese consumers, and one that can help automotive operators and authorities to cost-effectively monitor vehicle related emissions”.
“It is a significant development for The Floow, and testament to the hard work that has gone in to developing relations between the UK and China – especially where technology is concerned.”
Zhang Chunhui, general manager of Carsmart, said: “As a leading Chinese car networking service company, through the cooperation with The FLOOW, we will take full advantage of our complementarity in terms of market, technology and service, seize the development opportunities of Chinese “Internet +” together, to create intelligent service platform and data operation platform around the public transportation and vehicle management, providing more accurate, ,economical, environmentally friendly car networking services for the benefit of the public.”
The partnership has been supported by UK Trade & Investment and follows The Floow’s recent involvement in a business tour of South East Asia earlier this year led by Prime Minister David Cameron.
Mark Robson, UKTI regional director for Yorkshire and the Humber, said: “The outstanding achievement of The Floow in signing this pioneering partnership with CarSmart epitomises what can be achieved by Yorkshire companies when they seize the opportunity to trade overseas.
“The Floow is an exemplar of the technological expertise and specialist talent and skills based in Yorkshire and being made available to the benefit of markets abroad.”
