Waze Ltd. has raised $30 million from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers' Digital Growth Fund and iFund, and Horizons Ventures Hong Kong, the private investments arm of Li Ka Shing. Waze will use the proceeds to support its application's rapidly growing user base of over seven million drivers and launch its traffic-reporting platform in China.
Waze recently launched the 3.0 version of its app with a new interface. The company was named one of Israel's most promising start-ups for 2010 by "Globes", and reached one million users within 18 months of its launch in 2009. It currently has users in 45 countries, including 1.3 million in Israel. The company has expanded from its initial markets in the US, France, Italy, and Israel, to Spain, Malaysia, Mexico, and Brazil.
Waze CTO Ehud Shabtai, president Uri Levine, and VP R&D Amir Shinar founded the company in 2008. The company has raised $57 million including this latest financing round.
Waze CEO Noam Bardin said, "Since our last round in December, Waze has seen phenomenal growth around the world. Expanding to China, the world's fastest growing automotive and smartphone market, is an obvious next move for us. I would also like to welcome our new board members and advisors. We look forward to further supporting our driving community - together we can outsmart traffic."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 18, 2011
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