INRIX is getting a big financial boost from one of Europe’s leading car manufacturers. The Porsche family, a majority shareholder in Germany’s Volkswagen AG, is investing $55 million in the Kirkland-based provider of traffic data tools and information, valuing INRIX at roughly $550 million.
The Wall Street Journal reported on the financing earlier today, noting that it marks the first investment by Porsche Automobil Holding SE’s family fund. INRIX CEO Bryan Mistele confirmed the funding in an interview with GeekWire, saying about half of the money would be used to cash out early investors with the remainder being used to help the company push faster into services for the connected car.
INRIX has been expanding from its original roots as a traffic data company into connected car services, such as parking information, fuel price data and vehicle data.
“What the investment does is it allows us to continue to expand in terms of connected car, and pivoting the company from just a traffic data company to an industry leader in connected car services and analytics,” said Mistele, adding that those areas represent huge “megatrends” in the car business. “It’s all about connecting cars to infrastructure, and connecting cars to smart cities, and we are a key player in that.”
The cash infusion marks the first outside investment in INRIX since 2007, previously raising $31 million across three rounds of financing. It raised another $37 million three years ago from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, money that was used to acquire ITIS Holdings in England.
INRIX, which spun out of Microsoft Research nine years ago, operates what it dubs the “largest traffic network in the world.” The technologies allow makers of navigation systems to more accurately predict the best routes to get from point A to point B, avoiding traffic bottlenecks.
The company’s patented algorithms crunch petabytes of crowd-sourced traffic data from millions of places around the globe, allowing INRIX to detail traffic speeds down to 800 feet increments. It uses sensor networks, as well as information from smarthphones, fleet vehicles and GPS navigation systems to come up with an accurate picture of what’s happening on the roads.
INRIX inked a partnership deal with Volkswagen last year, at the time announcing plans to power the in-car navigation system for the 2013 GTI and GTD models. In addition, BMW, Ford, BBC, The Weather Channel, The I-95 Corridor and dozens of TV and radio stations are also using INRIX traffic data. It boasts about 300 customers across the globe.
The company now employs about 350, and the new funds will help it grow. It boasts more than 175 million cars, vehicles and devices that it collects data from, operating in 40 countries. Seventy five percent of connected cars in the U.S. use INRIX services.
The investment by Porsche will allow INRIX to transition away from its base of venture capital investors to larger investors who want to be part of the company’s next stage of growth, Mistele said. INRIX had been discussed as a potential IPO candidate, and while Mistele said that is something that they are working towards, he said that “there are no specific timelines” at this point.
