Munich Startup: What does your startup do? What problem are you solving?
Daniel Ulman, STM Cars: At STM Cars, we dream of a better life in a liveable city – of a future where you don’t need to own your own car to be mobile. A city where existing vehicles are used instead of standing around idle. However, there is currently still a lack of stress-free alternatives to owning your own car, for example for a trip to the countryside, going skiing, or driving to the lake. This is exactly where STM Cars comes in. STM Cars offers a platform for day-to-day rental of electric vehicles with an end-to-end solution – convenience first!
Jakob Scherübl: The electric car is booked via an app and then delivered to your door within 150 minutes. Electricity, comprehensive insurance, and 200 kilometres per day are included in the booking. After use, the vehicle can simply be dropped off anywhere in the Munich city area – we take care of the rest.
Munich Startup: But that already exists, doesn’t it!
Daniel Ulman: The concept of renting existing vehicles already exists and is fundamentally nothing new. However, the implementation is often deficient. Most often it fails due to a missing marketplace, cumbersome processes on both the owner and user side, and low trust between the parties. In addition, the combination of technical hardware and software, logistical processes, and communication with a wide variety of stakeholders has so far made efficient scaling difficult.
With our interdisciplinary team consisting of operations experts and tech specialists, we are optimally positioned to walk this tightrope.
“Very early on, we decided to focus exclusively on electric vehicles”
Munich Startup: What is your founding story?
Daniel Ulman: The company was founded with a simple question: “Why should I own a car in the city? What would an alternative look like to replace my own vehicle?” In the first year (2021), it was about getting to know the market – in parallel to (full-time) studies. We founders, Jakob and Daniel, personally carried out each of the first 200 handovers and spoke with nearly every renter, always gathering feedback. This way, we were able to create a service that comes very close to owning your own car – and many more features are still in development. Very early on, we decided to focus exclusively on electric vehicles in order to facilitate the transition to a sustainable future and support our vision of a liveable city.
Many of our renters told us that they weren’t quite ready to give up owning a car, but only used their car 1-2 days a week. So we decided to also help increase the utilisation of existing, unused vehicles – initially exclusively company vehicles – in addition to our own fleet.
In the second year (2022), we brought our company to a state that makes this business model scalable. In the process, our third co-founder Sebastian joined. While Jakob and I, Daniel, mainly bring operational and business experience, Sebastian completes the team with his tech expertise. 2023 starts with a funding round and ambitious expansion plans!
Munich Startup: What have been your greatest challenges so far?
Daniel Ulman: Our biggest challenge in recent months was developing a seamless booking process via app. Unlike conventional companies, we wanted to enable digital and user-oriented booking from the start – without annoying paperwork. Implementing a virtual fleet and purely digital processes cost us considerable time and certainly caused more than one sleepless night.
Mindset shift away from car ownership
Munich Startup: Where would you like to be in one year, and where in five years?
Daniel Ulman: In one year, we want to have a prominent place in Munich’s transformation of mobility. This should be reflected in a larger fleet that we provide to our users. We want to achieve a mindset shift – away from the necessity of ownership towards conscious use. As further steps in implementation, we see the continued development of the product and expanded B2B services.
Following the motto ‘The Sky is the Limit’, we’re tackling the plan for the next five years. We’re aiming to conquer major German cities and pursue internationalisation.
Munich Startup: How have you experienced Munich as a startup hub so far?
Daniel Ulman: I personally see the Munich startup ecosystem as incredibly valuable for the success of a startup. As an active member of the student initiative Start Munich and as a regular participant at events like Inspire & Dine (CDTM), Royal Jungle, the Bits & Pretzels, and UnternehmerTUM events, I’m confronted daily with the ideas of other founders. In such an environment, you’re almost forced to act innovatively and quickly try out new things. Furthermore, I have always perceived the Munich startup ecosystem as well-educated, interested in founding, open, and helpful.
Munich Startup: Hidden champion or shooting star?
Daniel Ulman: Since we’ve just started our scaling phase, I’d still call us a hidden champion, but I see us as a fast-growing startup in an enormously large market. So we’re clearly heading in the direction of a shooting star. Follow our journey!
