INRIX Raises $37 Million to Deliver Traffic Data

by Kin Lane on 07/25/2011

INRIX�, an international provider of traffic information, and driving services, announced a commitment of $37 million in funding led by Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers' (KPCB) Green Growth Fund and August Capital.

The investment will be used as part of a continued global expansion and R&D efforts focused on the company's in-car, location based services (LBS) and mobile applications businesses.

With over 150 industry-leading customers across 8 different distribution channels, a profitable business, and nearly 90 percent compound annual revenue growth over the past 3 years, INRIX did not need to raise capital, said Bryan Mistele, president and CEO of INRIX. However, given new market opportunities including the rapid adoption of our premium traffic services, increasing demand from automakers for global solutions and the explosion of LBS on mobile devices, we're accelerating several investments designed to firmly cement our global leadership position.

The investment by KPCB Green Growth Fund and August Capital show the growth of the LBS data market, and resulting APIs that gather and deliver this data to mobile applications.

Traffic congestion costs the U.S. economy upwards of $155 billion dollars annually. Last year alone, US drivers wasted 3.9 billion gallons of fuel sitting idle in traffic, and the US is a small part of a much larger and growing global traffic problem, commented Michael Linse, partner at Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers. We believe that INRIX is uniquely positioned to help improve the efficiency of our cars in ways that reduce fuel consumption and improve sustainability for all.

We are experiencing a convergence of automotive and mobile efforts that leverage the latest smart devices, data analytics and connectivity technologies that improve how the world's one billion drivers travel from place to place.

The use of crowd-sourced traffic information from mobile devices, vehicles, and sensors on the road can provide continuous real-time speed, congestion, accident data that can provide a unique understanding of traffic events from school schedules, concerts, sporting events and everyday commutes to deliver highly accurate real-time, predictive and historical traffic information.

APIs are the "vehicle" in which data will travel from cars, phones, and sensors and to companies like INRIX, and investors are started to see the huge potential in this massively growing market.