Inrix Secures $15Mil in Funding

Inrix has received some extra funding, $15Mil. to pursue the traffic data feed space. With the markets set to explode over the coming years, they seem well positioned with a vast coverage network in the US, an agreement to feed data to TMC connected GPS units (as well as the TomTom Plus feed through the mobile phone network), they are also setting up shop in Europe. With the Europeans more tuned into GPS usage (penetration of GPS users is much higher there), and the fact that they deal with traffic a lot with the population density there, I would expect that they would be very receptive to better coverage and better prediction of the traffic landscape.

When do we get a GPS with their National Average Speeds product? Well, Dash is coming to market soon (Q1 2008), and has already announced a partnership with Inrix, and Inrix followed up this press release below with the statement saying: “Several other major customers have been signed and will be formally announced in the coming months.” Can't wait.

Press Release Follows…

INRIX announced a $15 million Series C round of funding led by existing investors August Capital, Bain Capital Ventures and Venrock. INRIX intends to utilize the funds to further accelerate deployment of its ground-breaking technology and international expansion to meet customer and market demand.

"With a strong book of business from more than 40 customers and the significant achievement of reaching our first cash-flow positive month in September, INRIX did not need to raise capital," said Bryan Mistele, president and CEO of INRIX. "However, given the tremendous uptake of traffic services this past year and the rapidly changing nature of the LBS market, we decided that now is the time to accelerate several investments and further expand our product offerings to firmly cement INRIX's leadership position in the market."

INRIX has developed a unique technology portfolio that generates highly accurate real time, historical and predictive traffic information. With the broadest coverage on more roads and in more markets than any other U.S.
traffic information provider, INRIX's growth and success has been remarkable since the company was founded in 2004.
Tony Sun, managing general partner for Venrock commented, "INRIX is in a unique position with its technology, leadership, focus, and business model to be the market leader in what we expect to be a billion dollar traffic data business within five years."

In the past year alone, INRIX has amassed nearly 30 new industry partners and customers, grown the maximum available coverage of real-time traffic flow information in the U.S. from 36 markets to 100, introduced
real-time and predictive coverage for roadways throughout the entire U.K., and exponentially increased real time flow coverage from 8,000 miles to over 55,000.

Other traffic flow providers rely almost solely on traditional road sensors available on a severely limited number of highways and roads across the country to deliver real time traffic flow information. As a result, commuters in major metropolitan areas such as Miami, Cleveland and Kansas City previously had no access to real time traffic flow information. INRIX's disruptive technology dramatically changed the traffic information industry with a ground-breaking approach of combining data from the largest network of GPS-enabled vehicles in the world with traffic-related information from more than 250 public and private sources, including traditional road sensors, toll tags, and other traffic data.

INRIX also leads the market in accuracy, an inherent problem for most traffic information providers, and its data has been extensively validated by customers, research firms (including two leading independent analysts),
and strategic partners. One key partner, Clear Channel Total Traffic Network, conducts ongoing ground truth testing of INRIX traffic data using rigorous testing standards defined by BMW R&D.

The explosive demand for telematics and location-based services has raised the stakes in the competition for applications and services that will truly differentiate companies such as personal navigation device
manufacturers, mobile services providers, automotive manufacturers, web portals, and others.

"The pending acquisitions of Tele Atlas by TomTom and NAVTEQ by NOKIA have dramatically changed the landscape of the navigation and location-based services markets, creating significant opportunities for INRIX," said Ajay Agarwal, Managing Director at Bain Capital Ventures. "INRIX is now the only independent traffic flow aggregator in the U.S."

As a result, INRIX has seen rapid use and adoption of its core traffic information services within the past 12 months by leading companies:
-- TeleNav, the first company to launch a GPS navigation system on mobile
phones in the U.S., launched traffic alerts with one-click rerouting in
its TeleNav GPS Navigator application exclusively featuring INRIX data,
and available through leading wireless carriers in the U.S., including
Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile.
-- Telmap, a market leading mobile navigation company, integrated INRIX
real-time and predictive traffic speeds as well as incident solutions
into its popular Telmap Navigator application.
-- Clear Channel's Total Traffic Network which has incorporated INRIX real
time traffic for its automotive and portable navigation customers'
navigation applications including BMW, Garmin, TomTom, Mio/Mitac,
NAVIGON, Cobra Electronics, Siemens VDO and others.
-- Tele Atlas, a leading global provider of digital maps and dynamic
content for navigation and location-based solutions, incorporated INRIX
historical traffic information (Tele Atlas Historical Traffic Speeds)
further extending its popular MultiNet and Dynamap offerings, and
making average speeds available on specific road segments across the
country.
-- In the public sector, INRIX recently became the first private company
to provide operational traffic data services, using GPS-based vehicle
probes, to a government agency (Wisconsin DOT).

INRIX's momentum in the automotive, Internet, media, mobile, portable navigation, public sector, and transportation & logistics space continues to catapult forward. Several other major customers have been signed and will be formally announced in the coming months.

November 2, 2007

Inrix Secures $15Mil in Funding