The company, which is headquartered in Tel Aviv but has four U.S. offices, is pulling in the money just as it adds new functionality to its platform aimed at equity and neighborhood context. The Geospatial Suite gives users more information about how changes to routes would affect different areas, including demographic information. It also shows the ways that transit connects with the nearby community — bike paths a cyclist would take to a bus stop, a school that a rider might be headed to, etc.
So theoretically, if a route change would make it harder for a heavily Black community to get to the hospital, the Geospatial Suite would make that clear.
“It’s now of critical importance that we modernize 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,” said Optibus CEO and co-Founder Amos Haggiag in a press release.
Optibus has been fast-growing; since its founding in 2014 it has expanded to serve 450 cities worldwide.
Among gov tech companies, investment rounds above $100 million are not entirely common. But one of the firms leading this round, Insight Partners, has a history of making big bets in the space. Insight participated in a $110 million round for Nextdoor in 2015, invested more than $100 million into PayIt in 2019 and led an $85 million Series C for RapidSOS earlier this year. Insight is a previous investor in Optibus.
The co-leader on the current Optibus round was Bessemer Venture Partners. Also participating was Verizon Ventures, Pitango, New Era Capital Partners, Dynamic Loop and BlueRed Partners.
Optibus’ total fundraising to date is about $160 million.
