Israeli smart car company otonomo has closed a $25m series B financing round led by Delphi Automotive with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, StageOne Ventures and Maniv Mobility. The company plans using the funds to continue developing its automotive industry data exchange platform, and to expand globally into the US, Asian, and European markets.
Based in Herzliya, otonomo was founded by CEO Ben Volkow and president Avner Cohen. The company has developed a cloud based platform that facilitates services for autonomous and connected cars. otonomo has raised $40 million to date including a $12 million Series A financing round just five months ago in November 2016. The company has also opened offices in Menlo Park, California.
Volkow said, “Data is driving the future of the automotive industry. otonomo enables car manufacturers and ecosystem services alike to capitalize on this opportunity in order to drive new revenues and better driving experiences by enabling secure and managed access to vehicle data. While we are not in the business of building cars, we do have, we do provide a great deal of knowledge and expertise when it comes to data and connectivity. With our connected car platform, we provide a trusted gateway between the services and third party applications drivers want, and the security the automotive industry requires.”
otonomo’s technology offers a cloud-based solution that seamlessly and reliably connects millions of cars to hundreds of services and applications, enabling a new exchange of car data, as well as new business opportunities.
The announcement of the latest financing round comes just 24 hours after otonomo signed a commercial partnership agreement with UK based high-tech car supplier Delphi Automotive plc (NYSE: DLPH).
"The focus of our partnership will be bringing otonomo's connected car marketplace to OEM customers," said Kevin Clark, president and CEO, Delphi Automotive. "otonomo's connected car marketplace will be integrated with Delphi products to offer a complete data acquisition and monetization solution for automakers."
Volkow said, "We are excited to work with Delphi to deliver our car data marketplace to OEMs in order to enable a better driving experience. We believe this partnership will help accelerate otonomo's ability to enable new products and services using data collected from connected cars."
Delphi also invested this week in Israeli car chip communications company Valens, as part of its $60 million financing round announced on Thursday.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 7, 2017
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