Recently, our Co-Founders Bento and Manuel sat down with Business and Science Network to discuss Avenidas' impressive growth and sustainability initiatives. During the interview, they highlighted the company's commitment to transitioning to an electric fleet, their innovative logistics solutions, and expansion plans. They also shared insights on how Avenidas continues to adapt and thrive in a competitive market by always seeking new opportunities and maintaining a strong focus on sustainability.
In 2023, they completed over 680,000 services, and 63% of the journeys were made with electric vehicles. Meet Avenidas, the mobility company operating in passenger transport, logistics, tourism, and, more recently, as an operational partner for companies, with a strong investment in sustainability. Manuel Reis, CEO and Co-founder, highlights one of the reasons for the success of this company, which aims to generate 10 million euros in revenue this year: “We are always looking for new opportunities and we never say no to anything.”
Avenidas has invested nearly 2 million euros in sustainable mobility across its business areas. What was the outcome of this investment?
Until 2019, we only operated in passenger transport with hybrid and combustion vehicles. We experienced organic growth until the pandemic, which forced us to reinvent ourselves and find new solutions to survive. This led to the creation of Avenidas Send, focused on meal deliveries and what we call next day delivery, where deliveries of parcels (such as Amazon or Nespresso) are grouped into routes with commercial vans. We invested from scratch in these areas to maintain our scale, and in 2021, we decided to embrace sustainability and committed to no longer acquiring combustion vehicles, switching to only purchasing electric vehicles for all our business areas. Thus, our investment has been primarily in expanding our fleet. If we’re buying more cars and vans, they will be electric. Today, we have an electric fleet percentage of nearly 70% across all business areas, including passenger transport, tourism, and deliveries, where Avenidas Send operates a fleet of commercial and electric motorbikes. We can see a global shift towards this energy transition, and for us, it's not just a banner; it’s something we genuinely believe in. Additionally, these efforts translate into commercial strength, as we work extensively in the B2B segment with global companies often leading this transition.
For example, in the delivery sector, where we have partnerships with major companies, we are beginning to see a financial return on this investment, paving the way for new partnerships and growth within our existing partners, setting us apart from competitors lagging in this area. By embracing sustainability early, we are also in a more advantageous position against competitors while contributing positively to the environment.
Since you will no longer acquire non-electric fleet, do you foresee having a 100% electric fleet in the medium term?
There have been operational challenges in this transition, which have forced us to adapt and learn better route management. For example, in tourism, where we already have nine-seat electric vans, this was a major challenge for our teams, as we conduct tours throughout the country. Suddenly, we have a Porto-Lisbon trip, and our driver doesn’t know how to justify the necessary stops for vehicle charging. This has been and continues to be a significant challenge in this transition, and if we had a 100% electric fleet, it would be difficult to cover all services and clients because there is still a need for combustion vehicles for these types of services. So, we still have them, but they are the older vehicles, as all our investments have been towards growth rather than fleet replacement (at least so far), and if we haven’t replaced them yet, it’s because electric vehicles still have to make strides to meet all operational needs of a mobility company. Our path cannot be faster than this evolution. However, this year we aim to have 80% electric fleet, perhaps 90% next year, and continue this transition.
Your values align with Uber’s commitment to becoming a zero-emission mobility platform by 2040, with 100% of trips being zero-emission. What other sustainability initiatives do you plan to launch to remain a leading mobility company in this area?
We have other initiatives in mind. It’s not just in passenger transport that we carry the sustainability banner. At the moment, we are taking steps towards expansion, particularly in logistics with the acquisition of warehouses – we will have one in Porto and possibly one in Lisbon soon – and we want to make them charging hubs that provide a solution not only for internal consumption but also for external consumption. Additionally, we have another project approved under the PRR for digital transition related to route optimisation, which can also be a means of reducing emissions across the board. Even if I have electric vehicles, if I can reduce the kilometres on the road, I am also making significant steps towards sustainability, especially in large cities.
Avenidas is much more than an Uber-like company, operating in four distinct areas: Mobility, Tourism, Logistics, and Venture Building. How are you the ideal partner to boost the operational success of the companies that contact you?
This new Venture Building aspect began with a brand activation project for a North American startup, but it made us look further and understand our identity across all verticals. It made us realise what we represent to the various companies that trust us – many of them tech companies and many of them global in scale – we are essentially an operational arm, capable of setting up operations and teams, and this is something that is consistent across Avenidas. Whether in operations with or without wheels, our expertise is exactly in setting up operations, continuously collecting data, and improving performance. It is this flexibility and dynamism that all our partners see as a significant advantage.
Last year, you decided to diversify your business and create a sort of car travel agency in Portugal, “Swingo”, offering custom-made tours. What does this “What, When, and How Much” proposition of Swingo mean for tourists?
Essentially, the tourism aspect of Avenidas has always existed, and we’ve gone through two major rebranding phases, yet we didn’t want to drop our name, which is well-known in Portugal for being involved in various sectors and having numerous resources in operation. But last year, we realised that the name Avenidas wasn’t the most appealing for tourists, so we wanted to create a brand that embraced the B2C part of our tourism sector, where we provide transfers, private chauffeur services, predefined routes, such as our Tour to Sintra... Thus, Swingo was born because we wanted a name that resonated with foreigners and made them remember us. We also wanted to do something more, leading to the “build your tour” service, a custom service. This is a tool where clients can create their own route instead of only having the pre-set products available on the market. Manually, we already provided this service, but now we’ve given autonomy and automation to the client so that even if they don’t know exactly what they want to do, they can build their own tour through our website.
Who are the three partners behind Avenidas, and how did you combine your expertise to launch this startup?
Basically, Bento Louro and I started this journey in 2016. I had just graduated, and he was a broker at a bank. At the time, putting cars on Uber was popular, and he had that business idea, so he talked to me, as I always wanted my own business, and it was an immediate match. We started with my personal car, I made several trips to understand the operations, and then we grew organically, investing in new cars. We had an interesting trajectory until 2019, when we wanted to gain independence from platforms and create our own products. This led to private passenger transport for direct clients and then tourism, which boosted us significantly. Meanwhile, as mentioned, the pandemic led to the creation of other business areas. At that time, Bernardo, my childhood friend and a biomedical engineer, joined us. Bernardo had pursued doctorates and had a different career in mind but wanted a change and accepted my invitation to join us, helping me with all the challenges we faced. When he joined, we made a big leap, organising all our ideas, leading to the different business areas we have been creating.
Last year Avenidas aimed to nearly double the company's total revenue to 7 million euros. However, considering it was a year of team consolidation, the turnover exceeded 5 million euros, 25% more than the previous year. This year, your goal is 10 million. Will there be more news from Avenidas to help achieve this leap?
We are confident that we will surpass this goal. I won’t mention a higher number to avoid too much pressure, but in the Venture Building area, we have some projects starting that will help make this goal tangible, through new business areas and operations being launched. Besides, the expected growth in our existing business areas is also being realised. Last year, we fell slightly short of the goal, but it was a year of team consolidation, hiring many mid-level management. This year, we have a significant expansion plan for Porto, where we already had a foothold but now have a more ambitious plan to add more vehicles, whether in passenger transport, tourism, or send. Additionally, we have clients and partners in Lisbon supporting our expansion there. We have a lot on the table, which I believe will help us achieve this ambitious goal. I would also like to mention that we are always looking for new opportunities and never say no to anything, as long as it is tangible and we have the internal capacity to embrace it.
For those who want to use Avenidas’ services, where can we currently find you? Do you expect to increase your coverage in the coming years?
Currently, besides Greater Lisbon and Greater Porto, we do not have consumer services in other locations, although we are present with Avenidas Grow in other cities, such as Aveiro. Soon, we will also open in Funchal and have other cities in sight.
What is your assessment of your journey?
The outcome has been very positive, especially for the timing. The pandemic forced us to diversify, and now we are stronger. We remain attentive to the market, always looking for new opportunities, and maintaining flexibility and innovation at our core. This ensures we stay ahead, ready to adapt to challenges and seize new growth opportunities.
