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Cubic Buys Traffic-Counting Company GRIDSMART for $87M

GRIDSMART, based in Knoxville, Tenn., uses cameras and computers to classify and count vehicles going through intersections. The company, now joining Cubic Transportation Systems, works in 1,200 cities across the globe.

Cubic Transportation Systems, a subsidiary of a publicly traded conglomerate, has swallowed up the traffic-counting GovTech 100 company GRIDSMART Technologies.

Cubic, which has a large footprint in transit, tolling and traffic management — it won a big contract in 2017 to modernize payment systems for the New York City subway — has agreed to buy GRIDSMART for $87 million.

The move, financed through Cubic’s credit, brings in a company operating in 1,200 cities across the world. Knoxville, Tenn.-based GRIDSMART uses cameras, processors, algorithms and software to count and classify vehicles traveling through intersections and then help traffic managers optimize signals and take action to avoid congestion.

Cubic is paying 11 times GRIDSMART’s adjusted earnings for the past year, which amount to $8 million, according to a slide presentation given to Cubic's investors. GRIDSMART’s previous investors included Launch Tennessee, Meritus Ventures and Battelle Ventures, according to Crunchbase.

Ben Miller is the associate editor of data and business for Government Technology. His reporting experience includes breaking news, business, community features and technical subjects. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in journalism from the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno, and lives in Sacramento, Calif.