ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Yoshihisa Suzuki, President & COO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that it has concluded a capital and business alliance agreement with Just Park Parking Limited (headquartered in London, UK; Anthony Eskinazi, CEO; hereinafter “JustPark”). Through connecting ITOCHU’s mobility businesses to JustPark’s network of users and parking spaces, ITOCHU intends to develop new mobility businesses and related services, including car-sharing.

Since its inception in 2006, JustPark has operated as an aggregator of parking spaces and has built its unique platform, with which drivers can find and reserve parking space via web or app. Today, 58% of drivers in the London area can find a JustPark registered parking space within walking distance. JustPark has more than 3.5 million registered drivers and prides in many awards it received, including Tech Track 100 by Sunday Times (2019) and Innovator of the Year by British Parking Awards (2017 and 2018).

Through its wholly owned subsidiary, European Tyre Enterprise Limited, ITOCHU operates the largest car maintenance business in UK and the Netherlands with approximately 930 directly managed　outlets under the “Kwik Fit” brand. Last year, ITOCHU has also invested in Hiyacar, a P2P car-sharing market business that enables individuals and enterprises owning unutilized vehicles to become a car-sharing lender.

The growing mobility service market presents various opportunities regarding physical spaces. JustPark aims to utilize its network of vacant spaces to take advantage of this opportunity. ITOCHU aims to further develop its mobility business by partnering JustPark’s platform with HiyaCar’s matching function.