Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm The Westly Group recently joined the European investors of Cleverciti Systems to complete its latest funding round with a total of $15 million.
This round will allow Cleverciti Systems, the smart parking technology, management and data specialist to further accelerate its international growth. Reportedly, The Westly Group was an early investor in Tesla Motors.
“Our research has shown that Cleverciti’s proven smart parking systems effectively address the pain points of the main parking operators in the marketplace,” said Steve Westly, managing partner of The Westly Group.
“Their innovative technology has proven its applicability and sustainability in over 18 countries during the last two years. We firmly believe that smart cities, shopping malls, airports and other large parking operators need to access reliable parking data to maximize their infrastructure’s value. Real-time and space-specific guidance of drivers will decrease emissions while increasing revenue. We are proud to support Cleverciti Systems in its growth in the U.S. and other international markets.”
Partnership with The Westly Group provides Cleverciti Systems access to international utility companies. Utilities will play a significant role in smart city development through their ownership of key data hubs. Their current utility poles will become the future strategic data hubs for smart cities.
“Our team is proud that The Westly Group has chosen Cleverciti Systems to add to its prestigious investment portfolio,” said Thomas Hohenacker, founder and CEO of Cleverciti Systems.
“Our partnership with The Westly Group not only provides financial backing, but it opens many doors. Our goal is to become a leading player in the smart city environment, and partnerships are essential to make that happen. Our current utility company clients want to expand their smart data services. Cleverciti Systems’ innovative sensor technology generates accurate and real-time space-by-space parking data in a cost-effective way. To visualize the data at the poles, Cleverciti Systems has released a new digital signage system for user-friendliness.”
Cleverciti Systems – EIT Digital Challenge winner 2017
Last year, EIT Digital was looking out for Europe’s best deep technology ventures in five key areas: Digital Industry, Digital Wellbeing, Digital Finance, Digital Cities and Digital Infrastructure. By the end of 2017, Europe’s leading driver of digital innovations and accelerators for the tech startup awarded five scaleups to support their international growth in 2018 and beyond. These companies received a prize package worth €100.000, consisting of one year support in the EIT Digital Accelerator and €50.000 in cash, and Cleverciti Systems was one of them.
This scaleup from Munich won in the Digital Cities category of the challenge and it provides a sensor technology that points drivers via an app to free parking spots in cities. Subsequently, this does not only reduce the search traffic in cities, but it also reduces air pollution. The implementation of Cleverciti’s technology leads to an overall improvement of the quality of life in the big city.
Cleverciti unveils 3D real-time digital wayfinding solution
The company also announced recently that it will showcase its new “clever parking” solution for on-street and open-air parking management at Parkex 2018 next month. Parkex takes place at the Ricoh Arena, Coventry on June 13 and 14.
The technology is one-of-its-kind, as per the company’s press release, it will be the industry’s first 360-degree real-time digital signage solution for pole and aisle wayfinding. The CIRC360, which is an omnidirectional floating LED sign that displays live parking information in 360-degrees and can be mounted on existing lampposts of any size and type.
“Capable of displaying selected information for drivers approaching from different directions, the CIRC360 can be located directly above parking spaces and utilised for a range of dynamic on-street and open-air digital signage applications; including the combination of local parking guidance with advertising and other messaging, such as smart city data, as well as security notifications,” the company said in an official statement.
“Its powerful proprietary overhead sensor technology and innovative Cockpit management software empower cities, property owners and operators to manage parking in a more intelligent and efficient way. “
The company also revealed that cities can leverage this information to significantly reduce traffic congestion and emissions caused by parking search traffic while also greatly increasing parking revenues. At the same time, parking operators – at airports and shopping malls are using the Cleverciti System to improve overall customer experience and increase the time for shopping, instead of searching for parking spaces.
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