StreetLight Data, the leader in big data analytics for mobility, has recently announced closing a Series D funding round of USD 15 million. The new deal aims to put together world leaders in infrastructure investment and clean technology innovation, with the pioneer in mobility big data analytics, as the transportation sector in North America is heading into a new age of mobility, encouraged by the COVID-19 pandemic. Macquarie Capital and Activate Capital have joined the existing investors Osage University Partners and Ajax Investment Strategies to close the funding round.
StreetLight blends machine learning with deep transportation expertise and vast computing and mobile data capabilities to provide near-instant insights into virtually every road and street in North America. This enables agencies to automate and scale data collection, modernize investment decisions, and optimize productivity while keeping people and items moving.
“Just as eCommerce, web conferencing and telemedicine companies have enabled life to continue in a socially distanced world, so has StreetLight enabled critical transportation planning to weather the pandemic era,” said Laura Schewel, CEO and Co-founder of StreetLight. “Governments, engineering firms, and New Mobility companies need better information at a time of remote operations, increased transportation volatility, and decreased budgets. The only way to do that is to replace expensive and highly manual transportation measurement approaches with on-demand metrics.”
“We are incredibly excited to partner with StreetLight as they continue through this rapid phase of growth,” said Paul Jordan, Vice President at Activate Capital, a venture firm focused on bringing digital technologies to scale across analog industries. “StreetLight brings the power of a Silicon Valley big data platform to scale for civic and commercial stakeholders, enabling them to build the connected, intelligent, and sustainable transportation systems of the future.”
“What impressed us about StreetLight was its ability to innovate and build meaningful insights from a rapidly expanding base of data. We expect that those insights will have broad application and deliver significant value across multiple industries,” said Jared Doskow, Managing Director at Macquarie Capital Principal Finance. “Macquarie Capital is excited to partner with StreetLight and leverage our deep experience in the technology and infrastructure sectors to support StreetLight’s growth.”
Transportation had undergone profound change even before the pandemic, driven by population growth and congestion, changing commute patterns, and rising “new mobility” — placing new demands on transportation agencies is already balancing budget pressures.
COVID-19 has compounded these problems by creating a new level of travel uncertainty and pushing the industry to calculate and operate more complex processes, with limited resources and a significant proportion of its staff working remotely.
