Israel-based transport management technology developer Optibus secured $107m on Wednesday in a series C round that included Verizon Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of telecommunications firm Verizon.
Bessemer Venture Partners and Insight Partners co-led the round, which included Pitango Venture Capital, New Era Capital Partners, Dynamic Loop and Blue Red Partners. Sources close to the deal told TechCrunch it valued the company at $400m to $500m.
Founded in 2014, Optibus operates an artificial intelligence-equipped software platform that supports the management of public transport operations. It plans and schedules the movement of vehicles and their drivers in order to make transport services more efficient and reliable.
The company’s software is used in transit operations in more than 450 cities including New York, London, Melbourne and Brasilia. The series C round will support its international expansion and the further development of its software-as-a-service offering.
Amos Haggiag, CEO and co-founder of Optibus, said: “It is now of critical importance that we modernise 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.”
Optibus has raised $160m of funding to date including $40m from a 2018 series B round led by Insight Partners that also featured e-commerce group Alibaba, Verizon Ventures, Pitango VC, New Era and individual investor Ronald Cohen.
Pitango VC also led a $12m series A round for Optibus in 2017, investing alongside Verizon Ventures and Ronald Cohen.