INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
On-demand shuttle startup Via has hit a $2.25 billion valuation following a Series E funding round led by Exor, the Agnelli family holding
company that owns stakes inPartnerRe, Ferrari and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.
The Series E funding round, which included other investors,
totaled $400 million, according to a source familiar with the deal
Exor invested $200 million into Via as part of the round, both companies said in an announcement
Noam Ohana, who heads up Exor Seeds, the holding company early-stage investment arm, will join Via board.
New investors Macquarie Capital,
Mori Building and Shell also participated in the round, as well as existing investors 83North, Broadscale Group, Ervington Investments,
Hearst Ventures, Planven Ventures, Pitango and RiverPark Ventures.
Via, which employs about 700 people, plans to use most of these funds to
expand its &partnerships,& the software services piece of its business
Via has two sides to its business
The company operates consumer-facing shuttles in Chicago, Washington, D.C
But the core of its business is really its underlying software platform, which it sells to cities and transportation authorities to deploy
their own shuttles.
When the company first launched in 2012, there was little interest from cities in the software platform, according to
co-founder and CEO Daniel Ramot
The company started by focusing on its consumer-facing shuttles
Over time, and using the massive amounts of data it collected through these services, Via improved its dynamic, on-demand routing algorithm,
which uses real-time data to route shuttles to where they&re needed most.
Via landed its first city partnership with Austin in late 2017,
after providing the platform to the transit authority for free
It was enough to allow Via to develop case studies and convince other cities to buy into the service
In 2019, the partnerships side of the business &took off,& Ramot said in a recent interview, adding that the company was signing on two to
three cities a week before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Today, the Via platform is used by more than 100 partners, including cities such as Los
Angeles and Cupertino, Calif., and ArrivaBus UK, a Deutsche Bahn company that uses it for a first and last-mile service connecting commuters
to a high-speed train station in Kent, U.K.
Raising funds in a pandemic
Via managed to close the funding round during an inauspicious time
for startups that have found it increasingly difficult to lock in capital due to the COVID-19 pandemic
COVID-19, a disease caused by the coronavirus, has upended markets, along with every industrial and business sector, from manufacturing and
transportation to energy and real estate.
Via managed to raise a sizable fund, which just closed, despite the credit tightening and
Ramot told TechCrunch that while he was worried the round might be delayed, he noted that Exor is a long-term and patient investor that
shares the company &same vision of where transit is going.&
Even now, as nearly every category within transportation — including public
transit, ride-hailing, shared micromobility and airlines — has seen ridership drop or dry up altogether, Ramot and Ohana see a promising
future.
Ohana said that the market is starting to understand the limits of ride-hailing — hurdles such as poor unit economics and an
uncertain path to profitability
&On the other hand, the size of the market for an on-demand dynamic shuttle service is large and underappreciated,& Ohana said
&When we look at public transit today, there is a significant opportunity for Via, which already has impressive experience working with
municipal and public transit partners across the globe.&
That doesn&t mean Via is immune to the widespread tumult caused by the COVID-19
Via consumer business has been negatively affected as ridership has dropped due to the spreading disease.
However, there has been some
promise with its partnerships business, Ramot said.
Existing partners, a list that includes transit authorities in Berlin, Germany, Ohio
and Malta, have worked with Via to convert or adapt the software to meet new needs during the pandemic
A city might dedicate its shuttle service to transporting goods or essential personnel
For instance, Berlin converted its 120-shuttle fleet transport to an overnight service that provides free transit to healthcare workers
traveling to and from work.
&There has been a real interest in emergency services,& Ramot said, adding he expects to see more demand for the
software platform and the flexibility it provides as the pandemic unfolds.
