Private Shuttle and Transport Tech Company Raises Another $110M in Investment
Mar 23, 2023
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Via, a provider of on-demand shuttle services and transportation technology, has secured an additional $110 million in investment, bringing the total to close to $1 billion. By maintaining the same share price as the company's last funding in November 2021, the new funding raises Via's valuation to $3.5 billion.
According to a recent interview, Via CEO and co-founder Daniel Ramot said that the company would use the funding to move toward its long-term goal of "providing every city in the world access to this end-to-end digital infrastructure, where they can plan, operate, analyze, and continue to optimize their transit networks across every vertical in that transit network."
Via's transit tech software assists public transportation agencies, municipalities, and schools in maximizing the efficiency of fixed bus routes, determining the best locations for new bike lanes, developing comprehensive plans for paratransit and school bus services, and integrating private shuttle and on-demand ridesharing services into the city's overall transportation network. The business has expanded to over 35 nations and 600 communities.
Transit Startup Seeks to Expand Services to Vegas, Other Major Cities
Ramot believes the startup can do more as new mobility segments develop, threatening to crush already congested streets and devastate already limited finances.
Via plans to invest the money towards developing new goods or acquiring complementary businesses in order to expand its existing product line. Via's street map-making software could be expanded to include planning for traffic lights and speed bumps, parking and curb management software could be added, electric vehicle fleets and their many chargers could be managed, micro-mobility planning could be incorporated, and autonomous vehicles could be added. The company is still debating its options.
To implement autonomous ridesharing shuttles in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Grand Rapids, Minnesota, AV companies, May Mobility and Motional, are presently collaborating with Via.
According to what Ramot said in an interview, "the idea would be that you would use our tools to plan the infrastructure in the most effective, safe, efficient way, and then design the transit network that sits on top of that infrastructure. We may be interested in access control as well. For instance, if a bus carrying 50 passengers arrives at a traffic light followed by a car carrying one person, the traffic light isn't clever enough to give the bus right of way, even if you would want it to. They are merely supply-and-demand matching algorithms, something at which our system excels.”
Via Secures Funding Amidst Investor-Scarcity
The timing of Via's capital raising couldn't be more fortunate, as businesses are always looking for new funding and investors are being selective right now. As Ramot sees it, transportation agencies are still hurting from the impact of COVID-19 on ridership patterns, and they are more receptive to being brought into the 21st century with digital tools and databases like Via's.
Yet, as Ramot points out, it has historically been very difficult to convince cities and transportation agencies to adopt new technologies and to shift to more dynamically routed or data-driven services. It's not exactly simple, but it has become less difficult.
As a result of these efforts, Via has proven to its backers that they are investing in a viable company. According to the firm, their yearly revenue run rate exceeded $200 million by the end of 2022, which is more than twice their last $130 million funding round in November 2021.
Around that time, Via made its secret IPO filing. Considering the market's volatility over the last year, the business has been waiting to take this step, but according to Ramot, Via is ready to launch whenever the market is ready and if it makes sense to do so. The business now has the "optionality" to go public when the time is right, adds Ramot, even if Via didn't need the money to keep going at its present rate.
Both new and old investors contributed to a total of $110 million. 83North was the lead investor, and the following companies also participated: Exor N.V., Pitango, Janus Henderson, CF Private Equity, Planven Entrepreneur Ventures, Riverpark Ventures, and ION Crossover Partners.
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