Citymapper, a popular rival to Google Maps for commuters residing around major cities, has reported losses of £7.4 million in 2021 – in 2020, its losses were £6.3 million. These figures show that the company is struggling to find a way to make a profit despite its popularity in the UK and elsewhere.
One of the major contributors to the losses was COVID-19. With the UK bringing in various restrictions over the course of the pandemic and people being encouraged to work from home, the need for apps like Citymapper was reduced. Regarding the impact of COVID-19 and its longer term prospects, the company said:
“In 2021, [Citymapper] continued to be impacted by COVID-19 with movement restrictions and work from home guidance still in force for much of the year, impacting revenue. Despite this short term impact, the long term outlook is positive, with app engagement reaching an all-time high by the second half of 2021 and app usage returning to pre-pandemic levels and continuing to grow organically, subsequent to year end. In addition to its consumer business lines, Citymapper is now uniquely placed to tackle the multi-billion B2B mobility technology market.”
The company has been taking several steps to make itself profitable, for example, free users are shown non-personalized ads. It also offers a paid service called Citymapper Pass for London residents which gives you access to a range of transportation modes via a travelcard including the tube, bus, rail, ride-hailing, black cabs, Lime e-Bikes & Scooters, and Santander Cycles.
This paid option is only for customers in London but as it expands similar offerings to other cities, it should help the company become profitable. It has also said that a single pass should work across multiple cities to make things easier for customers.
Source: Companies House via The Telegraph (Yahoo! Finance)