Addresses are ambiguous, not precise enough or don’t even exist in some places. what3words wants to map the entire world and overhaul addresses three words at a time. That’s why I’m excited to announce that what3words Chief Commercial Officer Clare Jones is joining us at TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin.
The startup has divided the world in 3 meter squares. Each square has been assigned three words. This way, it’s easy to read, easy to write and even easy to say. And more importantly, it’s unique.
And sometimes, simple ideas can be incredibly powerful. For instance, if you’re driving, it’s much faster to say three words to define an address on your navigation system than a full address.
It’s also more precise. If you’re heading to a huge building, you want to arrive at the entrance of the building, not on the other side. It’s incredibly frustrating when it happens — I nearly missed a train when a GPS navigation system led me to the wrong side of the tracks. This could be particularly useful for ride-hailing apps for instance, as they usually only let you enter an address.
And then, there are countries that never had a good address system in the first place. For instance, Lonely Planet added what3words addresses to its Mongolia travel guide. It is much easier to read three words in a book and type them on your phone, instead of tapping GPS coordinates for instance.
It also opens up a lot of new markets for e-commerce companies. In some countries, customers don’t have a good way to indicate where they live. An e-commerce website can add what3words support to add new delivery locations.
There are many other use cases. Emergency services, governments and humanitarian projects could also leverage what3words to improve communication and become more efficient. And I can’t wait to hear Clare Jones describe how people have been using what3words.
Buy your ticket to Disrupt Berlin to listen to this discussion — and many others. The conference will take place December 11-12.
In addition to panels and fireside chats, like this one, new startups will participate in the Startup Battlefield to compete for the highly coveted Battlefield Cup.
what3words is the world’s first addressing system designed for voice – every 3m x 3m square in the world has been assigned an address made of just three words from the dictionary. These 3 word addresses can be used to route cars or drones, used as an address when ordering online, or simply given as a meeting point for a picnic in the park. what3words is used in 170 countries and is being adopted by governments all around the world as an official addressing system. Its investors include Daimler, Intel Capital, Aramex and Deutsche Bahn.
Clare is the Chief Commercial Officer of what3words; prior to this, her background was in the development and growth of social enterprises and in impact investment. Clare was featured in the 2019 Forbes 30 under 30 list for technology and is involved with London companies tackling social/environmental challenges. Clare also volunteers with the Streetlink project, doing health outreach work with vulnerable women in South London.