Tag Archives for: Startup

CityLift Parking Secures $22.5 Million Series C Funding With Dundon Capital Partners 

October 07, 2019

 

CityLift Parking Secures $22.5 Million Series C Funding With Dundon Capital Partners 

 

 

OAKLAND, CA  – CityLift Parking (“CityLift”), the leading provider of automated parking lifts in the U.S., announced it has completed its Series C capital round with Dundon Capital Partners LLC (“DCP”). The investment is the largest completed for any U.S. automated parking lift company in the market today. Specific terms of the transaction were not disclosed. CityLift plans to use funds to accelerate its growth and invest in technology innovation to address the rapidly growing automated parking lift industry. John Zutter, Jason Kulas and Jeff Vanderbilt from DCP will be joining CityLift’s Board. 

 

 

“We are delighted to be partnering with DCP,” says Scott Gable, CEO and co-founder of CityLift Parking. “This investment is a vote of confidence in CityLift as the leading player in the future of parking.” 

 This funding builds on an exceptional year for CityLift. CityLift was recognized by Inc. Magazine as the 66th fastest growing company in the United States and the fourth fastest growing company in the construction industry. With its CityLift Puzzle™ design, CityLift became the only company approved for semi-automated parking lift systems in Los Angeles. It completed the largest project in the country, a 235-space project in Oakland, CA, and the first 5-level puzzle lift in the U.S., in Nashville, TN. The company is building the first fully automated system in the Pacific Northwest and the first parking lift system in Salt Lake City. 

“DCP’s experience with rapidly growing companies complements CityLift’s current capabilities and will allow it to expand into new markets and attract new customers” says Mike Ghielmetti, CityLift Board Member and co-founder. 

The funding is also well timed to catch the industry growth wave. Automated parking lifts are rapidly being accepted by cities, developers, architects and builders as a means to use less space, build faster, and reduce cost versus building conventional parking. 

“CityLift has demonstrated itself as a clear market leader in the parking space and fits well with our focus on opportunities with strong leadership, attractive and sustainable margins and secular growth trends. We are excited to partner with Scott and Mike and the team going forward.” says John Zutter, Partner of Dundon Capital Partners. Mr. Zutter will be joining CityLift’s Board as its Chairman. 

About CityLift Parking 

CityLift Parking designs, installs, and services automated parking lifts that save space, reduce the cost of building parking, and reduce construction time. CityLift is headquartered in Oakland, CA, with offices in Los Angeles and Boston. 

About Dundon Capital Partners 

Dallas-based Dundon Capital Partners, LLC is a private investment firm focused on private equity and credit investments across a range of industries. The firm has unique operational experience and managerial capability, combined with its financial backing drives value for its investments and help them achieve their full-growth potential and long-term objectives. DCP holds investments in companies such as Topgolf, Employer Direct Healthcare, OTO Development and a variety of commercial and residential real estate assets. 

Contact 

Raymond Kahue

Director of Marketing

rkahue@cityliftparking.com 

www.cityliftparking.com

SpotHero Announces $50 Million Series D Funding Led by Macquarie Capital

August 22, 2019

 

 

SpotHero Announces $50 Million Series D Funding Led by Macquarie Capital

 

 

CHICAGO — SpotHero, the digital parking leader, today announced $50 million in Series D funding led by Macquarie Capital, bringing SpotHero’s total funding to date to $118 million. Union Grove Venture Partners participated in the round, along with existing investors including Insight Venture Partners, Global Founders Capital, OCA Ventures, AutoTech Ventures and others. The new capital will be used to accelerate marketplace growth, expand the digital platform for the parking industry, strengthen partnerships with leading mobility companies, and deepen SpotHero’s technology stack to standardize and optimize access to parking throughout North America.

 

 

 

SpotHero is driving the digital transformation of the $20B off-street parking industry with hardware and software solutions aimed at drivers, parking operators and property owners, and mobility partners. The company offers the largest place to buy and sell parking in North America and has helped digitize nearly 7,000 parking facilities in the US and Canada. SpotHero’s consumer products help millions of drivers find, book and access parking, while the SpotHero developer platform and API powers parking at scale for fleets, connected cars, and urban mobility apps.

In the first half of 2019, SpotHero:

 

  • Reached half a billion dollars in all-time sales, the majority transacted within the past year. The company is now on pace to reach $1 billion all-time transactions within the next year;
  • Assembled a team of executives from Uber, Expedia, Groupon and Cars.com, and is planning to double product and engineering headcount to more than 100 in the next year;
  • Announced SpotHero for Fleets, an industry-first parking-as-a-service solution designed to support the car sharing economy and help accelerate the mobility industry’s eventual transition to autonomous vehicles;
  • Hit 900-plus distribution partnerships and integrations including everything from Google Assistant, for voice-enabled parking; Waze, for seamless in-app navigation to parking; Hertz and car2go for fleet parking; WeWork, for commuter parking; and Moovit, for multi-modal parking;
  • Rolled out SpotHero for Business to over 600 corporate travel and enterprise clients.

At the intersection of infrastructure, real estate and technology, parking remains an industry in transition. It is being redefined by three of the biggest trends affecting cities today: mobility, congestion, and sustainability. By 2050, 68% of the world’s population is projected to live in cities, where aging infrastructure is already being pushed to the brink. In response, policymakers are experimenting with immediate solutions to reduce traffic, including congestion pricing and curb redesign, designating dedicated curb space for multi-modal use such as bike lanes or pick up and drop off zones. This transformation of the curb is reducing the availability of on-street parking and beginning to push more drivers to off-street facilities. To accelerate and streamline this transition, SpotHero is bringing underutilized and often invisible parking spaces online, reducing the need to build even more new parking structures in crowded cities.

“By standardizing the way parking is bought and sold, we are introducing the same visibility into parking inventory that people expect from the airline or hospitality industries,” said Mark Lawrence, CEO and co-founder, SpotHero. “That’s a big win for drivers, but there’s still a lot of work to be done to modernize parking. Together with our network of more than 1,000 operator and platform partners, and our new and existing investors, we look forward to bringing this next phase of industry growth to life.”

“SpotHero is in position to transform the entire parking industry and has built a foundation to support the future of mobility for a long time to come, including the movement towards shared use and EV fleets,” said Lucas Joynt, Senior Vice President, Macquarie Capital. “SpotHero’s leadership position makes the company an attractive investment for Macquarie Capital as we continue to drive innovation at the intersection of infrastructure, real estate and technology. We look forward to supporting SpotHero as it scales to its next phase of growth.”

To learn more, visit SpotHero.com.

To download the free SpotHero app, visit the App Store or Google Play.

About SpotHero

SpotHero is the digital parking leader and the largest place to buy and sell parking in North America. Millions of drivers use SpotHero’s mobile apps and website to find, book and access off-street parking in 7,000 locations across 300 cities. Leading mobility companies use the SpotHero developer platform to power seamless parking at scale for fleets, connected cars, and urban mobility solutions. For more information, visit SpotHero.com.

 

MeterFeeder to Welcome New Innovators at AlphaLab’s Annual Demo Day

October 15, 2018

 

 

MeterFeeder to Welcome New Innovators at AlphaLab’s Annual Demo Day.

 

 

Pittsburgh (PA)– MeterFeeder – a product of startup accelerators like Y Combinator- will be attending the annual “Demo Day” event at Stage AE next week to usher in the next generation of company launches. The event takes place at Stage AE on October 16th, and will feature company launches from Innovation Works’ nationally ranked hardware and software accelerators, AlphaLab Gear and AlphaLab.

 

 

 

According to Innovation Works, press can expect to see new companies innovating in sectors such as Internet of Things (IoT), Voice based tech, AI, Advanced Materials, Software as a service (Saas), and Robotics.

 

MeterFeeder, like many other local startups, was lucky enough to have received investments from Innovation Works, and is happy to participate in the event as a celebration of the success the programprovides.MeterFeederCEOJimGibbsexpressedfurtherinterestsaying,“InnovationWorksand AlphaLab are great resources for startups and innovators in the Pittsburgh area. I’m excited to go to Stage AE next week to meet some of Pittsburgh’s toptalent.”

 

As part of the event, MeterFeeder will be meeting with the press to talk about their newest parking innovation, Pay-By-Vehicle. This new patent-pending technology allows vehicles to pay for parking by themselves, resulting in 100% compliance and far fewer tickets! The technology has already garnered a lot of attention,and MeterFeeder hopes to use it to promote Innovation Works and the support they provide..

 

Learn more about Meter Feeder at www.meterfeeder.com Register for Demo Day here.

 

 

Meter Feeder Invited to KDKA’s TechnoVation Networking Event to Display Success of Pittsburgh Startup Scene

September 28, 2018

 

 

Meter Feeder Invited to KDKA’s TechnoVation Networking Event to Display Success of Pittsburgh Startup Scene.

 

 

 

Pittsburgh (PA)– KDKA-TV invited technology lovers and innovative companies alike to the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Pittsburgh last week on September 21st. The local news station hosted “Pittsburgh’s most innovative networking event” – TechnoVation. The event invited the public to “hear from key corporations, city leaders, innovators, and organizations that are working together to lead the way into the future of technology”.

 

 

 

The event was based around a panel discussion with local professionals and experts discussing the rise of technology in pittsburgh as well as its importance to the growth of the city. The panel was hosted by well-recognized KDKA political analyst Jon Delano.

 

MeterFeeder was invited by Pittsburgh based investor / accelerator Innovation Works to show off the success of a minority-owned startup software company in Pittsburgh. The invitation was sent out by panelist Terri Glueck, the Director of Communications and Community Development for Innovation Works. Innovation Works helps hundreds of startups every year in the Pittsburgh area, with an overarching goal to assist in Pittsburgh’s economic transformation and demonstrate the value of local startups and innovators. MeterFeeder set up a table at the event and educated guests on its pay-by-phone and new pay-by-vehicle products before and after the panel discussion.

 

Other notable panelists included Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, President of Argo AI Peter Rander, and Philips Head of Quality and Compliance Vaishali Hegde.

 

Learn more about Meter Feeder at www.meterfeeder.com

 

28,29,365,374.346252

ParkWhiz Closes Equity Round To Accelerate Growth

September 07, 2018

 

 

 

 

ParkWhiz Closes Equity Round To Accelerate Growth

 

 

 

NewSpring Leads $20M Round to Expand the Company’s Lead in Last Mile Mobility Services

 

 

 

Chicago, September 7, 2018 – ParkWhiz, the leading transactional platform that delivers scalable, friction-free drive-up and reservation parking services, announced today that it closed $20 million in new funding, as part of its Series D financing. The round was led by NewSpring, a prominent family of private equity funds, with participation from existing investors, including Baird Capital, Jump Capital and Beringea.

 

 

The proceeds will be used to continue the company’s rapid growth of its transactional parking network, expand its footprint into new geographies, and further evolve its connected and autonomous technology to better serve drivers, parking operators, and platform distribution partners.

 

Founded in 2007 and based in Chicago, ParkWhiz provides seamless access to thousands of parking lots and garages in over 190 cities across North America, with hundreds of new facilities joining the network every month. The company uniquely embeds its services directly into the user journeys of more than 300 distribution partners through the ParkWhiz Platform.

 

Expanding rapidly, the ParkWhiz Platform provides over 40 million consumers with parking reservations and friction-free, drive-up access in garages and lots through sports teams and venues, events, travel providers, airlines, hotels, automotive OEMs, and navigation systems. Partners can offer friction-free, transactional parking as a value-added service provided directly through their own apps, websites, and emails, operated via text, voice command, or embedded right into the vehicle.

 

Drivers can also find, book, and pay for parking via the company’s top-rated ParkWhiz and BestParking mobile apps and websites.

 

“Off-street parking is a large, growing market internationally and we are proud to be a leader in the space,” said Yona Shtern, CEO of ParkWhiz. “The rapid adoption of connected and autonomous mobility services coupled with our complementary business models creates an extremely attractive market opportunity for us to expand into and foster new partnerships with consumer brands, parking operators, and asset owners. We’re thrilled to join forces with the NewSpring team as we enter this exciting phase of expansion.”

 

“ParkWhiz deploys an innovative approach to a frictionless parking experience, having already accomplished impressive growth in its market,” commented Glenn Rieger, NewSpring General Partner.  “With strong brand recognition, both among consumers and Platform partners, and an accessible, efficient technology, we believe ParkWhiz is ideally-positioned for continued growth and scale.  NewSpring is thrilled to partner with Yona and the rest of the ParkWhiz management team.”

 

Along with its investment, NewSpring’s Glenn Rieger will join the ParkWhiz Board of Directors.

www.parkwhiz.com

 

MeterFeeder shows off entire suite of products at largest industry expo 

May 31, 2018

 

 

 

MeterFeeder shows off entire suite of products at largest industry expo 

 

 

 

Orlando (FL)– MeterFeeder – the Braddock PA based parking startup – is headed to the 2018 IPI Conference & Expo in Orlando, FL. Every year, The International Parking Institute hosts this expo once a year to bring parking industry experts and newcomers together in the largest parking industry gathering in the world.

 

 

MeterFeeder has been providing low-cost enforcement and payment toolsto Pittsburgh municipalities for the past few years. Recently, new systems and tools such as thedigital permit and valet featureshave been added to provide more value to customers and parkers alike. Soon, MeterFeeder’s recently announced Pay-By-Vehicle system will allow everyone to pay for parking simply by turning their car off. In the future, these systems will pave the way for autonomous vehicles to integrate into parking systems around the country.

 

At IPI, MeterFeeder will be able to both contribute to and learn from the most expansive and diverse displays of parking technology in the industry. All of the suppliers, manufacturers, consultants, and fellow innovators will be able available for collaboration. MeterFeeder has a unique advantage over competitors in that the software is extremely flexible and adaptable, meaning that everyone at IPI from parking managers to enforcement applications could benefit from collaboration and integration.

 

To find out more and to see MeterFeeder’s full array of new technology, visit IPI Booth 2034.

 

ParkX Bringing Pay By Cell Parking To Austin, TX

February 25, 2016

ParkX

ParkX – the parking industry’s highest-quality service provider for mobile payments – is announcing it will be bringing its convenient cloud-based mobile payment solution to the City of Austin, TX.

The application will be available to Austin motorists in March and will expand throughout the entire city in April. Users will have the ability to pay for parking and extend time remotely through the ParkX app. Users without smartphones can pay via call or text as well as access a web application with the same functionality as the app.

Additional features include merchant validation codes that will let businesses discount parking expenses for customers who use ParkX. Users just enter the code into the app and the funds are deposited into their ParkX wallet account.

The capital of Texas – Austin is renowned for embracing innovative technology and positioned as one of the major tech centers of the country. The City’s decision to use the ParkX mobile payment platform is a testament to the community’s commitment of supporting the world’s newest, most effective, and most desired technology.

“Austin motorists are long overdue for this overwhelming level of convenience when they park,” said Chief Marketing Officer of ParkX, Austin Weiss. “We know it’s going to be a major hit here and are thrilled to provide our exceptional service.”

ParkX recently launched similar mobile payment solutions throughout Texas cities El Paso and Corpus Christi.

The ParkX application is free to download in both the App Store and Google Play.

About ParkX:

ParkX is the parking industry’s highest quality service provider of mobile payments. The company specializes in customized and innovative solutions that cater to the needs of each city and support local businesses. ParkX has recent customized deployments in Corpus Christi and El Paso and will be launching in Austin, TX in March. For more information about the company, please visit their website at www.getparkx.com or contact directly at info@getparkx.com

Vallie on-demand parking app expands service across all of central London

February 08, 2016

VallieLondon

 

Vallie’s expansion follows a successful pilot in the City of London last year; the parking app startup plans future smart carparks for self-driving cars

Vallie, the UK’s first on-demand valet parking service, is available across all of central London for the first time from today. Customers are able to forget about parking and simply drop off their cars at their destination of choice, and hand over their keys to a pre-checked Vallie driver, who will take their car to a pre-approved, secure car park. The Vallie app updates customers on their car’s location throughout the parking experience and cars are returned to any chosen destination within 15 minutes.

Vallie’s expansion follows a successful pilot in the City of London late last year in collaboration with the Barbican’s car parking facilities. The first month of the pilot (16 November – 15 December) saw over 500 app downloads and 75% of first orders coming back for a second order within the month. The wider expansion will see Vallie working with a number of commercial car parks across the capital.

As well as on-demand parking via the Vallie app, Vallie now offers advanced booking via www.vallie.co.uk, and a suite of additional services, including MOT checks, electric charging, petrol refills, screenwash refills and car washes, all of which the co-founders say are increasingly in demand.

Usage data from the City of London pilot shows that Vallie was most popular amongst 30–55 year-old working professionals, and that peak drop off time for parking was during the morning rush hour at 8.15am, and the peak return time was 6.45pm at the end of a long working day in the city.

Pushpakumara Arachige, a Vallie customer and Group Head of Ethnic Sales at Lebara Play now uses the service regularly when driving in London. He says, “I go to London on business two or three times a week and have been using NCP and street parking – which is always a nightmare. It takes ages to find a parking space in London. Since Vallie came along, I just use the app to get my car picked up and dropped off where I like, which saves me a lot of time and hassle.”

Vallie uses a simple payment structure of either £5 per hour or £25 per day. The daily charge represents an average 20% savings based on the daily rates of NCP car parks in the same area[1]. The hourly charge is comparable to on-street parking in London; for example, the City of London charges £4.80 for one hour of parking on the street.

Vallie is the UK’s first on-demand, app-based parking service. Similar services have been successful in several cities in the US and China. US leaders Luxe and Zirx have raised more than $25M each and Zirx has received investment from BMW iVentures, BMW’s venture capital arm.

 

The US on-demand parking app startup Luxe has announced this month that it has partnered with electric car startup Tesla to provide charging services as well as on-demand parking, car washing and technical checks for Tesla car owners. “The partnership indicates a near future where car parks will become connected hubs that will charge, maintain and fix semi- and fully-autonomous cars while storing them.”, says Vallie co-founder and CEO, Nash Islam.

 

Islam adds that, “We are excited to be scaling up our secure, convenient and affordable solution to parking challenges across London. We are also planning a future where parking is more effective, decreases congestion and cuts down on parking space, freeing the capital up for housing and green spaces. We think of Vallie as a DHL for cars, and in the future, want to create car parks that help manage the flow of traffic, while safely and cheaply storing and maintaining cars inside.”

Vallie was founded by Nash Islam, a serial entrepreneur and angel investor, previously head of mobile operations at Google, together with Oxford graduate Robin Doble, formerly a trader at Barclays and founder of app-based car-washing service GoWashMyCar. The pair came up with the idea because they found parking in London so difficult. Prior to Vallie, it has taken on average 20 minutes in London (6 minutes, 45 seconds across the UK) to find a parking spot, and the average motorist in the UK wastes 106 days of their life looking for parking.

 

All Vallie drivers are highly qualified and hired following stringent interviews, a driving test and background checks. Vallie drivers are insured for up to £100,000 damage on the car and up to £10 million third-party liability while driving. All cars are parked in reputable commercial car parks with CCTV and secure barriers.

For more information, please visit www.vallie.co.uk

[1] NCP City Car Parks pricing