The second annual Accelerate! Parking Pitch Competition showcased innovative solutions as emerging companies competed for industry recognition.
By Jay Landers
The second annual Accelerate! Parking Pitch Competition held at the recent 2025 Parking Industry Expo (PIE) brought together five promising startups presenting innovative solutions to address challenges in parking and mobility. The competition provides emerging ventures with the opportunity to present their business models to expert judges while connecting with potential collaborators and customers.
HermitGo, which enables car sharing at airport parking facilities, claimed first place. (For more details about HermitGo and its victory, see the article on page 20.) Requite’s cashless tipping solutions finished second, followed by ProkoPark’s parking management platform in third, Parking Pin’s hardware-free occupancy tracking in fourth, and ParkingAI’s integrated camera-based parking technology in fifth.
“I was impressed by the caliber of companies we saw this year,” said Kevin Uhlenhaker, the CEO and publisher of Parking Today Media, which produces PIE. “These weren’t just good ideas: They were market-ready companies with innovative concepts delivered with real polish and vision. It is exciting to work with a new generation of parking innovators.”
Seamless tipping for hospitality
Founded in December 2024, Requite modernizes tipping and donation solutions for the cashless era, including as part of valet and shuttle operations. Its flagship product features one-tap near-field communication (NFC) readers that remove friction from the giving process.
Requite aims “to foster a culture where the tools and the incentive structure are aligned to normalize giving,” said Adrien Hopkinson, the company’s head of product growth and strategy. “What we’re doing is just enabling generosity.”
The system requires no app from guests. They simply need an NFC-enabled credit card or phone. For valet operations, Requite developed a ticketless SMS service enabling guests to text for car pickup and receive tipping links.
Making parking smarter
ProkoPark offers technology that eliminates traditional parking kiosks and apps by using sensors and artificial intelligence (AI) to track vehicle movements and process payments automatically. The system provides parking operators with real-time occupancy data while enabling drivers to simply park and leave without manual payment steps.
Founder and CEO Thomas Li formed ProkoPark in response to the bad parking experiences he and his teammates experienced at school. “We found this problem in college, and we gathered together to try to find a solution,” said Amanda Ye, the company’s chief product officer.
Occupancy data without hardware
College parking woes also led to the formation of Parking Pin, which was founded in 2020 by CEO Robert Wilson. The company, which is focused initially on the university sector, uses a mobile app to collect user information automatically through geographical regions and generate parking occupancy data. An administrator dashboard enables parking providers to manage availability in real time and assess system performance.
“We’re generating occupancy [data] without any installations” of hardware, said Troy Blaylock, the chief operating officer for Parking Pin. As a result, “it’s easy to get started,” he said. “We can get a university set up in two weeks if they would like.”
Innovation through integration
Founded in January 2024, ParkingAI addresses what co-founder and CEO Hobin Kim described as a “very fragmented solutions market” by providing integrated parking technology focusing on license plate reading, real-time occupancy detection, and object detection.
“We want to provide a one-stop solution for the front-end side of parking management,” Kim explained. Rather than expensive specialized equipment, ParkingAI utilizes standard security cameras with layered algorithms, he said, achieving 98% accuracy in license plate reading even at 45-degree angles in low-lighting environments.
Opening doors for emerging companies
The competition proved valuable for all participants, providing industry access and networking opportunities often difficult for tech-focused startups to reach independently. For many participants, Accelerate! served as an ideal entry point into the established parking industry.
ParkingAI’s Kim found the experience valuable for understanding the competitive landscape: “I learned a lot about what other people think about other solutions to contribute to and innovate within the parking industry,” he said.
Multiple participants emphasized the hospitable nature they discovered within the parking community while attending PIE25. “What surprised me most was how open and welcoming the industry is, especially when it comes to integrations and collaboration,” Parking Pin’s Wilson said. “People were genuinely willing to talk, share, and brainstorm together.”
The experience provided concrete learning opportunities beyond the competition itself. Wilson “quickly learned that the parking industry has its own language,” he said. “There are a lot of acronyms and terminology to get familiar with. But as you grow in the space, it becomes second nature.”
Parking Pin’s Troy Blaylock found the feedback from the judges particularly valuable: “When everything was said and done, I feel like the judging portion was kind of tough,” he said. “But I think they just really wanted to understand our business. It gave us a lot to take away in terms of how to prepare when talking to industry experts.”
Why startups should apply
For emerging parking companies considering next year’s competition, participants unanimously recommend the experience. “If you’re a startup trying to break into the parking and mobility space, Accelerate! is a great launching pad,” Wilson said. “It gives you the visibility, network, and feedback you need to grow, and it helps you understand what matters most to this industry.”
Requite’s Adrien Hopkinson agreed: “I would highly recommend it,” he said. “I think it’s a great place to make connections and get validation for your idea. It is a unique opportunity to give voice to people who normally might otherwise have a harder time getting out there. Everyone should avail themselves of that opportunity if they’re able to.”
Yuichi Kurino, the chief scientist for ProkoPark, emphasized the program’s industry connections: “We definitely recommend participating in Accelerate to any parking and mobility startups,” he said. “The program gave us valuable exposure and connected us to key decision-makers who understand the industry.”
ProkoPark’s Ye noted that the competition provided valuable industry education: “Participating in Accelerate! actually gave me a much clearer picture of the parking industry, including how people are making decisions, what people value, and what the gaps are.”
Following the competition, the ProkoPark team had an “insightful conversation” with one of the event judges that proved extremely helpful, Ye said. “It was very honest feedback, and that pushed us to evaluate what our model could improve and what can we do better.”
The next Accelerate! Parking Pitch Competition will take place at PIE26, scheduled for March 30-April 2, 2026, at the Hilton Anatole Hotel and Conference Center in Dallas, Texas. Based on this year’s positive participant feedback, Accelerate! continues to establish itself as the must-attend launchpad for ambitious parking and mobility startups.
JAY LANDERS is the editor-in-chief of Parking Today. He can be reached at [email protected].
