Optibus Raises $107 Million and Launches Geospatial Suite to Help Cities Shape the Future of Urban Mobility
Optibus, the cloud-native AI platform for planning and operating mass transportation, announced today that it has raised $107 million in a Series C round, co-led by Bessemer Venture Partners and Insight Partners. The funding comes as Optibus is launching one of its most significant updates: the Geospatial Suite, which significantly improves transportation networks and transit equity through the use of data-driven planning.
Optibus 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. The funding will also go toward accelerating the deployment of zero-emission vehicles – replacing mass transit fleets based on fossil fuels and lowering emissions worldwide, just as the U.S. rejoins the Paris Agreement and the mitigation of climate change once again becomes a global effort.
Optibus also received funding from existing investors including Verizon Ventures, Pitango, New Era Capital Partners, Dynamic Loop and Blue Red Partners. With this latest round, Optibus has raised a total of $160 million since its founding in 2014.
“Effective public transportation is a critical part of a well-functioning society, and with the rise of new mobility options and electric vehicles, paired with the added challenge of the pandemic, city operators face more complexity than ever. Optibus stands out as a modern cloud-based solutionthat cuts through this complexity, allowing transit operators to plan routes and optimize schedules in minutes rather than days, promoting a more affordable and passenger-friendly experience. We are excited to partner with them as they build a global, world-class operating system for public transportation.”
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 significantly improve the accessibility, reliability and performance of networks that affect the lives of millions of passengers.
“The pandemic has made it more challenging for cities and transportation operators to provide safe and efficient public transportation, while also highlighting just how essential these services are. It’s now of critical importance that we modernize the public transit industry not only for the industry’s sake, but for the communities around the world that seek transit equity, freedom of movement for all residents, and environmentally sustainable cities. This funding will help us do just that.”
“The product strength and expansion of Optibus comes at a time when cities and transit operators need all the tools they can get to build back better in the aftermath of COVID-19, improving the quality of their public transportation networks while reducing operational costs. We believe that the Optibus platform will become the gold standard for mass transportation planning and delivery globally, and we are thrilled to partner with them as they continue their ScaleUp journey.”
Optibus powers complex transit operations in over 450 cities around the world, including New York, Los Angeles, London, Melbourne, Brasilia, Hong Kong and Singapore. 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.
This article was originally published by Optibus.
