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Investment from Nokia Growth Partners, BMW i Ventures, Keolis, Sequoia Capital, Bernard Arnault Group, Vaizra Investments, BRM Group, & Gemini Ventures spearheads new era of community-powered local transport
SAN FRANCISCO – January 14, 2015 – Moovit, the intelligent local transit app, today announced that it closed $50 million dollars in Series C funding from Nokia Growth Partners, BMW i Ventures, Keolis, Bernard Arnault Group, and Vaizra Investments to further expand its service in key markets and to continue to grow its participatory community of 15 million local transit riders. Existing investors BRM Group, Gemini Partners and Sequoia Capital also participated. The round will enable Moovit to bring its world-class community to larger audiences.
Moovit is setting a new standard for consumer access to real-time local transit directions through a combination of its free smartphone app and a hyper-engaged community. The company, which recently opened its international headquarters in San Francisco, has already doubled its user community in the last 6 months.
“Since our last round, Moovit has seen tremendous growth in our initial markets. Now it’s time to bring community-powered local transit to people around the globe,” said Nir Erez, CEO of Moovit. “We’re also proud to welcome our new, strategic investors to the team who will play integral roles in our plans for worldwide expansion.”
Moovit’s community model allows it to scale at incredible rates by providing the most accurate directions to people who rely on local transportation to navigate their daily lives. Riders also contribute to Moovit’s transit layer and engage in live transit prediction-mapping, which helps other transit riders travel faster and more comfortably.
“We’ve long been believers in Moovit’s mission to democratize local transit,” said Alfred Lin, partner at Sequoia. “But we’ve still been stunned by the passion of its community and how quickly it’s transforming the way the world travels across more than 500 cities.”
“Urbanization, age demographics and traffic congestion is driving up the usage of public transportation worldwide. Using real-time data and building a seamless experience for the commuter, Moovit is solving a daily problem for millions of people,” said Bo Ilsoe, Managing Partner at Nokia Growth Partners. “We are thrilled to back this talented team and help them make Moovit become the de-facto standard for local transit.”
“Improving urban mobility is one of the most fascinating and complex issues our generation is tackling,” said Bernhard Blaettel, President of BMW i Ventures. “We believe Moovit’s community-solution to local transit is changing the way we navigate our cities for the better, and we’re proud to help them realize their mission.”
Moovit is available for free in the Apple iTunes App Store, Google Play App Store, Windows Phone App Marketplace, or at moovitapp.com.
About Moovit
The Moovit App has everything you need to travel on public transport the smartest, speediest and easiest way possible. By combining information from public transport operators and authorities with live information from the user community, Moovit offers travelers a real-time picture and the fastest and the most comfortable routes. Moovit users can also send active reports about their travel experience, such as bus congestion levels, cleanliness, and more. The more people use Moovit, the more real-time information concerning buses and trains is distributed. Live information received from travelers offers all users improved route plans and more accurate estimates about arrival times.