Featured in PME Magazine
PME Magazine – How did the Portuguese mobility and delivery services startup Avenidas originate?
Manuel Reis – Avenidas was founded in 2016 with just one vehicle dedicated to the TVDE service. Today, it operates in mobility (Ride), travel and tourism (Tour), distribution and logistics (Send), and growth operations (Grow). Our mission is to be a reference business partner for companies in various sectors. We aim to provide a quality service, distinct from the current saturated market, believing that our human touch and close proximity to the customer differentiate us, offering a more premium service.
PME Magazine – What companies does Avenidas own?
Manuel Reis – Our network of clients and partners is already quite extensive, spanning different verticals. In Avenidas Ride, we have dozens of B2B partnerships for passenger transport, including IBM, Luggage Storage, Climex, GS1, and many B2C individual clients (families, etc). Avenidas Tour has over 20 B2B partnerships with companies such as Viator, Airbnb, Expedia, Get Your Guide, Living Tours, Windsor Travel, among others. Avenidas Send has several clients/brands working on end-to-end Food Delivery, with over 40 stores in Lisbon and Porto, along with 5 last-mile logistics partnerships, conducting about 3000 daily deliveries (e-commerce and q-commerce). Avenidas Grow currently works exclusively with Worldcoin, implementing 10 locations from North to South Portugal.
PME Magazine – In which cities are you present?
Manuel Reis – Currently, Avenidas is present throughout Greater Lisbon and Greater Porto. Through our Tour service, we also operate in Sintra, Nazaré, Berlengas, Sesimbra, among other locations with high tourist activities.
PME Magazine – How many vehicles and drivers are currently in operation?
Manuel Reis – Avenidas currently operates with over 70 passenger transport vehicles, including 5-seater cars and 9-seater vans, with approximately 70% being electric. We also have around 40 commercial vans and about 100 couriers. In addition, we have 120 private hire drivers (TVDE), including 15 tourist guides, and 40 promoters working for our client in the Growth department. We take our commitment to quality seriously, actively ensuring the work quality of couriers and drivers through opportunities and professionalisation. Some individuals started as couriers or TVDE drivers and progressed to office roles in finance or operations.
PME Magazine – You aimed to increase revenue to 10 million in 2024, expanding beyond Lisbon. How is this goal progressing?
Manuel Reis – For us, 2023 was a year of consolidation, surpassing our objectives operationally with a robust and increasingly efficient team. After the significant leap, growing 10x in two years, we took essential steps this year to target the goal for the next year. We're aware that aiming for a revenue increase to 10 million is ambitious, but we're working towards achieving it in 2024. Regarding projected investment, we expect similar levels to what Avenidas invested this year: between 1.5 million and 2 million euros. Some European projects, including our two applications to PT2030 and another to PRR, might help us invest a bit more, influencing our service offerings. Our focus is not necessarily on offering more services but working on the quality of each brand, investing in the capacity of each department, and focusing on each niche of the four clearly identified departments with Avenidas' new rebranding.
PME Magazine – Is Avenidas' capital still 100% Portuguese?
Manuel Reis – Yes, Avenidas' capital is 100% Portuguese. In 2022, we secured an investment of 110,000 euros from Khola, an institutional investing company.
PME Magazine – What are the plans for 2024?
Manuel Reis – The next steps involve ensuring that each of our departments gains its space to grow independently, with teams capable of embodying each area's identity. With a more decentralised structure, where each business area has a high degree of autonomy while having access to shared central resources and services, we are confident about geographic expansion. We plan to heavily focus on the growth of all Avenidas areas in Greater Porto during the first half of next year and then strategically expand some of our areas to other major cities in the country, such as Braga, Coimbra, Leiria, and Aveiro. Additionally, we are committed to making our business even more sustainable by electrifying the remaining fleet, maintaining our pledge not to acquire combustion vehicles, and replacing current combustion vehicles with new electric ones. This challenge also requires continued investment in IT solutions for optimising operational processes, aiming not only for a reduction in charging costs but also for a more efficient use of them, goals that are part of one of our applications to PRR.
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