Motorcycles are a lifeline for millions of Filipinos, but before Angkas launched in 2017, motorcycle transport was informal and unregulated. Drivers were seen as second-class citizens with limited economic mobility. Tham saw an opportunity to professionalize the industry using technology, giving drivers dignified livelihoods while helping commuters reclaim hours of their lives each day.

By 2023, Angkas had established itself as the leading motorcycle rideshare company in the Philippines. But the platform's first-generation technology was hitting critical limits. The system couldn't handle peak demand, forcing the technology team to manually manage the number of active customers and drivers at any given time. Driver complaints about allocation issues dominated feedback. Technology was the bottleneck preventing business growth.

"When I joined Angkas two years ago, I found myself in many meetings where we were always having to say about technology: 'No, we can't do that, we're not ready, we need lead time,'" says Josef Puchinger, CTO of Angkas. "Now with the new generation of technology, technology is no longer a barrier for expansion."

Working with Navagis, a Google Maps Platform Partner with deep expertise in mobility solutions, Angkas completed the migration in just six months — a timeline Puchinger initially thought impossible. "When I had the first call with the founders, they told me about revamping the technology in this time period, and I had to laugh a little bit," he says. "I said, no way, not possible."

By leveraging the complex, yet easy to use, infrastructure of Google Maps Platform, Angkas's lean team can differentiate where it matters most.

The impact was immediate and measurable. Operating in a market where customers outnumber drivers across all platforms, Angkas transformed its allocation approach. The old system required conservative matching attempts to avoid overloading infrastructure. The new platform fundamentally changed the matching approach.

"The scalability of Google Mobility Services allows us to attempt matchmaking much more aggressively. If we don't find a driver immediately, we can try again and again without overloading the system," Puchinger says. "That's critical because customers book on multiple apps simultaneously — whichever platform allocates first wins the booking."

The impact on speed has been dramatic. In the best case scenario, allocation time dropped from 10 seconds to nearly instant, with average allocation times declining by more than 30%. In addition, pickup distance has fallen by 15%, directly improving driver productivity and earnings.

For Tham, the work over the last two years with Google enables her original vision at scale. "We're a Filipino company for Filipinos, and everything we do is centered around relationships and building for the long term," she says. "We wanted technology that would help us provide stability and reliability to both our customers and drivers. Google Maps Platform gives us the superior places data and matching capabilities we need to make that happen."

This achievement was further strengthened by Navagis, a long-standing partner whose expertise and support have been instrumental to Angkas's continued growth.

With technology no longer limiting growth, Angkas is expanding into delivery services while preparing to scale across new geographies, in continued collaboration with Navagis. The platform that once struggled to serve Manila efficiently now has the foundation to serve the entire Philippines, giving even more drivers the opportunity for dignified work and economic mobility.

Angkas has also been an early adopter for Google last-mile innovations, like access points and entrances to reduce last mile friction and power delightful rider and customer experiences and increase fulfilment. Expert access to Google's advanced tools and operational teams has helped ensure fast, high-quality deployment of targeted data improvements to immediately benefit Angkas users.

"The integration with Google Maps Platform enables us to focus on what matters most — changing lives and creating economic opportunities for Filipino drivers and their families," says Tham.