Optibus, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based cloud-native AI platform for planning and operating mass transportation, raised $107m in Series C funding.
The round, which brought total funding to $160m since its founding in 2014, was co-led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Insight Partners with participation from existing investors Verizon Ventures, Pitango, New Era Capital Partners, Dynamic Loop and Blue Red Partners.
The company will use the funding to continue expanding its global presence and enhance product capabilities such as optimization and artificial intelligence algorithms that improve mass transit for passengers while also increasing operational efficiency, accelerating the deployment of zero-emission vehicles.
Founded in 2014 by CEO Amos Haggiag, Optibus leverages a combination of artificial intelligence, advanced optimization algorithms and distributed cloud computing to make public transportation smarter. The company currently powers complex transit operations in over 450 cities around the world, planning and scheduling the movement of vehicles and drivers.
Optibus is launching the Geospatial Suite, which improves transportation networks and transit equity through the use of data-driven planning.
With the new Geospatial Suite, cities can make transportation networks more passenger-friendly by visualizing crucial geographic information while planning routes – such as the bike paths that riders may use on the way to or from public transit, or the shopping districts, schools, health clinics or job centers where passengers may want to go. The suite also helps promote transit equity by making it easy to view demographic data showing how route changes could affect residents’ access to public transit. These capabilities facilitate data-driven decisions that improve the accessibility, reliability and performance of networks that affect millions of passengers.
Customers include U.S. agencies LADOT (Los Angeles), NICE (Nassau County, New York) and AVTA (Antelope Valley, California), and two of the largest bus operators in the UK, First Group and Stagecoach.
Optibus has offices in Tel Aviv, New York, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, London and São Paulo.
FinSMEs
10/03/2021