14/02/2023

Bill Earner was previously managing partner of Citymapper investor Connect Ventures.

Popular transport app Citymapper has hired one of its own investors as its new general manager, as a prospective sale of the business fails to materialize.
Bill Earner, formerly managing partner at Connect Ventures, has joined Citymapper as its general manager in August, according to a source and his LinkedIn page.
Earner previously sat on Citymapper’s board of investors while he was a managing partner at Connect Ventures, an early backer of the startup.
The move comes just months after the UK startup’s president and head of business, Omid Ashtari, quit the startup. Ashtari left Citymapper to join market research start-up StreetBees, as first reported in June by CNBC. CNBC suggested there had been a fallout between Ashtari and CEO Azmat Yusuf — Ashtari denied this was the reason behind the move.
Citymapper was founded by former Google employee Yusuf in 2011.
The free app is a popular way of calculating the most efficient travel routes in the more than 40 cities it operates in worldwide.
But the company has long struggled to find a secure revenue stream, and its most recent accounts show it remains loss-making.
One of its most ambitious efforts is the Citymapper Pass, a prepaid travel pass allowing users to access discounted travel. Business Insider reported in April 2019 that initial customers  for the Pass were unpleasantly surprised by mysterious fees, shipping delays, and poor customer service. Critics also questioned the economics of the Citymapper Pass.
Other attempts to make money have fallen flat. The firm attempted to run a bus service in 2017, with an eye to selling its transport software to bus operators. It dropped the plan in 2018, blaming regulation. It then segued into ride hailing, but dropped that too in 2019.
Citymapper has so far publicly announced $50 million in funding from investors including Balderton Capital and Index Ventures, and was valued at $325 million at its Series B in 2016. In June, former president Ashtari told CNBC that the company had raised another round from external investors but refused to share any more detail. 
The company was looking for a buyer earlier this year, according to reports by Sky News. Tech giants Uber, Apple, and Google have all reportedly been floated as prospective acquirers for Citymapper in the past. 
Earner did not respond to a request for comment. Balderton declined to comment.