Our History

  • 2000

    Unicard begins as Smart Cities – a European project managed by Schlumberger with the goal of introducing a single, all-access smartcard to Southampton. Our Executive Chairman, Peter Verrept, is the Technical Lead on this project.

  • 2003

    Peter Verrept and Konstantin Chterev acquire the Smart Cities products from Schlumberger and, with it, create Unicard. Konstantin establishes the software development team in Varna, Bulgaria, with Peter running sales and support close to existing customers in Southampton. Together, they set out to deliver the Smart Cities concept to other local authorities in the UK.

    Unicard quickly realise that the most successful element of our product proposition serves the transport sector. A decision is made to concentrate our efforts on Card Management Systems, the printing of ITSO cards, and expansion into ITSO transaction management systems.

  • 2008

    Unicard form a partnership with Euclid, helping to develop the implementation of ITSO for our card issuing scheme.

    Unicard secure our first contract with Transport for West Midlands. What was initially a small contract grows to become, and remains, a very important part of our business.

  • 2011

    As a result of our partnership with Ticketer, we secure our first joint customer in Reading. Unicard is now processing ITSO messages and providing ITSO terminal libraries.

  • Recognition of Unicard’s growing capabilities increases when we become the first organisation to employ Experian identity-checking services.

  • 2016

    Unicard and Euclid win the tender to provide ticketing systems to Transport for West Midlands.

    Unicard now provide complex, integrated commercial ticketing portals and front-end mobile applications. 

  • 2018

    Unicard, working with ITSO and Idemia, help to deliver ITSO on Mobile by building the engine that supports smart ticketing on mobile phones and other devices.

  • 2019

    Unicard and Euclid deliver Account Based Ticketing (ABT) for Transport for West Midlands. Sean Dickinson joins as CEO to drive Unicard’s continued expansion.

  • 2020

    Transport Scotland selects Unicard to deliver a mobile app, AMS-HOPS, and Part 11 integration to manage the Scottish Concessionary Travel Scheme.

  • 2021

    Solent Transport appoints Unicard, Trafi, and Behavioural Insights Team to deliver the UK’s first multi-city MaaS scheme as part of its Future Transport Zone plan.

    Unicard move into the rail sector as Rail Delivery Group selects us to deliver an industry-first, cloud-based, multi-tenanted HOPS to support 17 Train Operating Companies.

  • 2022

    Innovate UK awards funding to Unicard to develop Smart Ticketing Broker – a pioneering solution enabling seamless travel and payments, at the best price, for an estimated 1.5 million UK bus passengers every day.

    Unicard increase our charity fundraising efforts, with staff at our UK and Bulgaria offices raising money for Trussell Trust, Dorset Mind, and Karin Dom

  • 2023

    Unicard acquire smart ticketing specialists Ecebs from Visa.

    The move sees Unicard add contactless EMV to its extensive solutions portfolio, putting us at the centre of the rapidly growing smart mobility sector, and cementing our significant leadership position in the UK market for smartcard ticketing and concessionary travel.

  • 2023

    Unicard deploy our Ticketing Hub platform with Transport for Wales (TfW), allowing customers to use a payment card or mobile device to tap in and out at the start and end of every train journey.

    This enables TfW to become the first UK train operator outside of London to allow contactless EMV card payments.