By Jay Landers
JustPark’s recently announced acquisition of Oobeo, a provider of contactless parking management software, is part of an ongoing strategy to increase the product offerings and diversify the client base of the parking technology platform.
The acquisition strengthens JustPark’s position in the rapidly evolving parking technology sector, where demand continues to grow for seamless, contactless solutions across diverse market segments. By integrating Oobeo’s software capabilities, JustPark aims to expand its reach beyond its core event parking expertise into new verticals, including commercial real estate, municipal operations, and mixed-use developments.
JustPark’s latest deal
Following its founding in London in 2006, JustPark grew to become one of the leading app-based parking platforms in the U.K. In April 2024, JustPark merged with ParkHub, a Dallas-based provider of parking management software and payments solutions that was founded in 2010 and specializes in event parking. This past April, ParkHub rebranded as JustPark.
Today, JustPark facilitates more than $1 billion in booking volume for more than 550 U.S. customers, parking more than 40 million cars annually, according to the company. In the U.K., more than 14 million drivers use the JustPark app to reserve parking.
The deal with Oobeo, which was reported first by Parking Today on August 4, builds on previous acquisitions by JustPark. In 2022, ParkHub acquired Smarking, a provider of parking software for commercial real estate owners, parking operators, and municipalities. This past February, the company acquired ElimiWait, the software platform specializing in valet parking operations. ElimiWait’s products included Valet Mate, a contactless, paperless, end-to-end mobile valet solution, and Request Ahead, a request-for-your-vehicle platform.
Oobeo’s offerings complement these products and services, providing an “integrated suite of contactless parking software for mobile payments, permits, valet and attendant managed locations,” according to the company’s website. Its solutions address needs related to attendant payments, digital valet, indoor wayfinding, mobile parking payments, monthly permits, and shuttle request software. Financial details of the Oobeo acquisition were not disclosed.
A ‘good cross-sale opportunity’
JustPark’s acquisition of Oobeo, which is a subsidiary of Toledo Ticket Technologies, “did two things for us,” said Charley DeBow, the managing director of North America for JustPark, in an interview with Parking Today. Oobeo will enable JustPark to expand its product line as well as the clientele it serves, he noted.
“Events are always going to be our core,” DeBow said. “But in order to grow, we know that we have to get outside of just events.”
Oobeo’s product line will help facilitate this expansion. “There’s clearly some opportunity” to market Oobeo’s products to JustPark’s existing event and university customers, DeBow said. At the same time, Oobeo’s “customer base was really different from where our core was,” he said. “There’s a good cross-sale opportunity going on on both sides of the fence.”
In the event parking sector, having Oobeo onboard will help JustPark cater to the “growing trend of redevelopment of sports and entertainment districts” in urban centers, DeBow said. Increasingly, major U.S. cities are converting such districts from game-day-only attractions to a “real, true destination” that includes residential and commercial development to generate much more frequent economic activity, he said. The end result is a sports and entertainment district that is essentially a “mini city,” DeBow said.
As a result, these districts require parking approaches beyond those normally needed for events. “They’re looking at us to provide other solutions,” DeBow said. Oobeo’s product set “fits in really well for whersports and entertainment is going,” he noted.
Expanded capacity and market access
As part of the acquisition, Oobeo’s CEO Mitch Carter joins JustPark as general manager-commercial solutions. For Oobeo and its 10 employees, aligning with JustPark makes sense because it will afford the company “more firepower,” Carter said in an interview with Parking Today.
“We’ve got a great suite of solutions and a great core of customers,” Carter said. “But at some point, human resource becomes a capacity issue.”
Carter also highlighted the complementary nature of the two organizations. “JustPark didn’t have the majority of the solutions we’ve got,” he said. Oobeo “fills a need for JustPark,” Carter said, while joining JustPark “gives us that backing and support of a large sales force and high-powered executives well connected in the industry.” The deal “allows us to expand our reach outside of what we’ve got today,” Carter noted.
In terms of day-to-day operations, Oobeo’s team will remain under the purview of Carter, who will report to DeBow. “We’re not going to rock their boat,” DeBow said. “We really want them to focus on what they’re currently doing.”
Jay Landers is the editor-in-chief of Parking Today. He can be reached at [email protected].
