Traffic Information Co. Inrix Finds $6.1M In Series A
VentureWire
April 12, 2005
By Jonathan Matsey
Inrix Inc., a company developing predictive models of auto traffic, said that it has raised $6.1 million in Series A financing.
New investors August Capital and Venrock Associates co-led the round. Previously, Inrix was backed by its founders, said Bryan Mistele, chief executive and member of the founding team.
Redmond, Wash.-based Inrix was launched in July of last year by Mistele; Craig Chapman, chief technology officer; and Seth Eisner, vice president of operations. But the roots of the technology go back years further, Mistele said. Inrix has an exclusive license to traffic analytic technology developed by Microsoft Research, a unit of Microsoft Inc.
"We are the exclusive beneficiary of literally millions of dollars of research by Microsoft Research," Mistele said. "This is the first time Microsoft Research has done this with a third party." While Inrix has a royalty deal with Microsoft, Mistele said that Microsoft does not have an equity stake in the company.
Mistele and his associates also have a close relationship with the Redmond-based software giant themselves. Mistele is a former general manager at Microsoft's mobile services business unit, while Chapman was a development manager for the same unit. Eisner was a former senior vice president and corporate officer at Expedia Inc., and was part of the team that spun that company out of Microsoft.
"We currently have less than a dozen employees," Mistele said. "Most of them come from either Microsoft or Expedia." He said that he expects the company to have a team of over 20 by the end of the year.
Inrix takes data gleaned from traffic flow devices maintained by state and local governments and adds information that may affect traffic patterns, such as sporting events and concerts or road construction.
The company currently has 3,000 pilot users in the Seattle area, who are able to access its technology through Microsoft-enabled smart phones. Mistele said that Inrix is measuring a 91%-to-98% accuracy rate with its data.
Mistele said that the Series A funding will help the company to launch its products across a wider range of wireless devices and make it available across most of the U.S. He said he also envisions the technology being available by satellite radio, auto navigation systems, and online mapping programs.
Mistele said that by licensing the product, Inrix' technology is further developed than many other nine-month-old start-ups. "Getting the technology already developed allowed us to get to market much quicker," he said, adding that he hopes to have a rollout in select metro areas, including New York, in ninety days.
Inrix will provide both real-time traffic data, including accident information, and also predictive models of traffic flow. The advantage, Mistele said, is that users will have a good idea of how long it should take from one point to another at different times of the day, and can choose specific routes to get their quicker.
Mistele said that Inrix is able to accomplish this by using Bayesian modeling, a method of predicting outcomes of complex scenarios.
This round of financing should last the company for a while, Mistele said. "This was a fairly large round that will take us through for at least a couple of years," he said. "Hopefully we can build a fairly large business by then."
