Public transport app Moovit has raised $28 million. The crowdsourcing app gathers real time information from passengers as well as other sources to recommend the fastest public transport routes at any given time - doing for public transport users what Waze does for car drivers.
The Nes Tziona based company was founded in 2011 by CEO Nir Erez, VP Operations Roy Bick, and Yaron Evron. The app was launched in Israel in 2012 and at the start of 2013 in other cities worldwide including in the US, France, Holland, Spain, Italy and Brazil.
This latest financing round was led by Sequoia Capital with participation of previous investors BRM Capital and Gemini Israel Ventures. The company has raised $31.5 million to date including this latest round of financing.
Moovit will use the investment to enhance service in the 100 cities in which it operates, while expanding to new markets. Gili Raanan will represent Sequoia on the Moovit board.
Moovit helps public transport passengers plan trips and get to their destination as quickly as possible. The app goes beyond timetables to offer real time departure and arrival information, trip planning and point-to-point navigation across public transport options (bus, train, light rail, subway, ferry).
In just one year since launching its free service globally, Moovit has expanded to more than 100 cities worldwide, and handled more than one billion requests for real time information. With more than 10 million user-generated reports each day, Moovit is redefining the transit experience for three million mobile users and growing.
Erez said, "In a world with seven billion people and only 900 million cars, we all understand the challenge and the opportunity ahead of us. Reducing uncertainty is paramount for public transit users."
Sequoia Capital partner Gili Raanan who joins Moovit's board said, "Moovit has built an incredibly useful product for the huge, fragmented and underserved market of public transit riders. Rapid urbanization will lead to more than 6 billion people living in cities by 2050, and Moovit is working with transit authorities to make daily travel more enjoyable around the world."
Uri Levine, former president and founder of Waze, is also a member of the company's board.