A Croydon-based technology company has just landed a six-figure investment to boost the roll-out of its innovative parking charge payment system.
A Croydon-based company has landed a six-figure investment from Sussex Innovation
Hozah – hozah.com – is a parking platform that uses ANPR – number plate recognition – technology to enable car drivers to park and go with a one-time sign-up. The zero-touch payments system allows drivers to be charged automatically for their length of stay when they enter a Hozah-enabled car park, without the need to do anything else. It’s completely cashless, automated and secure.
Suss Ventures, the venture capital arm of Sussex Innovation, the business incubator based at No1 Croydon, has contributed the substantial investment to Hozah as part of the company’s multi-million investment drive.
David Fowle and Naomi Bishop founded Hozah in 2017 with the idea of transforming the country’s car park infrastructure.
The Hozah system is already being used or trialled with some local authorities around the country, including Coventry, Oxford and Croydon.
Hozah says, “Parking payment systems are often unclear and can leave people rushing back for a predetermined parking allocation time, which can build unnecessary costs for the driver. Our fully automated parking payment system connects drivers’ credit/debit cards to ANPR cameras which detect when drivers enter and exit Hozah-enabled car parks.
“The parking fees are then automatically billed for the length of their stay, without any action required by the driver.
“No cash, no apps, no fines, and no more waiting at the ticket machine.”
David Fowle, Hozah’s managing director, “We’re delighted to have received this investment through Suss Ventures, which is a real show of faith in our capability to revolutionise the UK’s car park infrastructure.
“We look forward to using these funds to help our customers avoid parking fines, frustrating apps and tickets.”
And Nigel Lambe, the chief executive at Sussex Innovation, said: “The investment is the latest step in a long-term relationship between Sussex Innovation and Hozah, who have been members of the business incubator since 2018. Hozah’s latest round of investment is part of our drive at Sussex Innovation to support innovative businesses on their journey from start-up to scale-up.”
Sussex Innovation is backed by the University of Sussex and works with innovative start-ups and scale-ups to help them understand their market. The network says it brings together the south-east’s most innovative and sustainable start-ups and high net-worth individuals together to accelerate the growth of businesses. Since it was founded in 2019, Suss Ventures has welcomed more than 100 business founders and investors into their community.
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Perhaps the Council could go to this Croydon company and get a tech solution to introduce charging to the recycling centres, so that we who use them pay a reasonable amount per annum.
It does seem unfair to me that a person with a small garden who pays the “garden waste ” wheely bin every year is actually paying more than the person witha car who drives to the recycling centre, and can dump huge amounts of garden waste at no charge (OK, as long as they do only one trip per day).
I do both– I am happy to pay for the bin, but sometimes, as I have a biggish garden, I drive down with a couple of builders big bag of hedge prunings every few weeks.
If Croydon is skint, I would much rather pay a quid or so per visit for my car trips to Purley Oaks than having to go to the ever-crowded Factory lane, or the very distant New Addington centres.
Obviously, the charge for recycling at the depot would have to be pitched to a level where the law abiding resident stays law-abiding and does not join the ranks of the fly tipping scum bags.