SpotHero

SpotHero is a digital parking marketplace that connects drivers looking to reserve and pay for parking spaces with parking lots, parking garages and valet services. The company, which operates a mobile app and website as well as a parking developer platform,[2] is available in over 300 cities in the United States and Canada. The company is based in Chicago, Illinois.

SpotHero
TypePrivate
IndustryParking
Founded2011
FounderMark Lawrence
Larry Kiss
Jeremy Smith
HeadquartersChicago, IL,
United States
Area served
North America
Key people
Mark Lawrence (CEO)
Larry Kiss (CTO)
Elan Mosbacher (SVP of Strategy & Operations)
Chris Stevens (CMO)
ServicesParking reservations
Number of employees
219 (July 2018)[1]
SubsidiariesParking Panda
Websitespothero.com

History

Early beginnings

SpotHero was founded by Mark Lawrence and Jeremy Smith in Chicago in 2011, with co-founder Larry Kiss joining the company soon after.[3][4] The company started out as a peer-to-peer parking marketplace, where people could rent out their own private parking spots, before expanding the platform to partner with parking companies and garages.[5][6]

In December 2012, SpotHero raised $2.5 million in venture capital funds from Battery Ventures (lead), 500 Startups, Bullet Time, e.Ventures, OCA Ventures, New World Ventures, Lightbank, and Draper Associates; at the time, it only served Milwaukee and Chicago.[7][8] In June 2014, SpotHero raised an additional $4.5 million in funding and announced new board of directors members, including LinkedIn's Mike Gamson, Match.com's Sam Yagan, and venture capitalist Sam Guren.[9] The company raised $20 million in Series B funding in 2015,[10] and an additional $30 million in a Series C round in July 2017.[11] In September 2018, the company raised an additional $10 million, bringing its total raised since launching to $68 million.[12] In August 2019 SpotHero announced $50 million in Series D funding led by Macquarie Capital, bringing the company's total funding to date to $118 million.[13]

Growth and expansion

Between 2011 and 2013, the company expanded from 5 employees to 22, grew to seven business markets (Chicago, New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, Baltimore, Newark, and Milwaukee) and opened an office in New York City.[3][14] By August 2015, SpotHero serviced 5 additional cities: Denver, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.[15][16] In July 2016, the company expanded to Los Angeles,[17] and in January 2017 added 13 additional cities, including Austin, Indianapolis, Miami and San Diego.[18] In 2020, the company was recognized as the fifteenth-largest privately held consumer marketplace.[19] As of November 2020, the company services over 300 cities in North America with a network of over 7,000 garages.[20]

SpotHero for Business was launched in March 2017, as a business-focused service with features and tools for paying, managing and organizing parking expenses.[21] The company also launched a free developer platform to help businesses integrate parking reservations into their existing apps.[22] In May 2017, SpotHero announced a partnership with commuter employee benefits administrator WageWorks allowing users to pay pre-tax dollars for daily parking near their places of work.[23]

In 2018, SpotHero was named to Time magazine's inaugural list of 50 Genius Companies that are inventing the future.[24][25] According to Time, "By allowing users to reserve a spot rather than circling dense city centers, apps like SpotHero can help stem congestion and pollution."[24] That year, SpotHero purchased 500 Waze beacons for $15,000 and gave them to the Chicago Department of Transportation to install in the lower roads of downtown Chicago, broadcasting an open signal so GPS will work properly.[26][27] Following an integration of its technology with Google Assistant and Hertz rental cars, SpotHero announced that it had readied 500 parking facilities in Chicago for driverless cars.[28][29]

In March 2019, SpotHero partnered with transit app Moovit to offer drivers the chance to view and book off-street parking near transit stations in San Francisco, to help ease road congestion in the Bay Area.[30][31] In June 2019, it was reported that SpotHero was partnering with Waze, a GPS navigation software app owned by Google, to link their navigation and parking into a unified user experience.[32]

In early 2020, the company launched SpotHero IQ, a dynamic pricing product allowing operators of parking garages or lots to adjust prices based on real-time data.[33]

Acquisitions

In April 2015, SpotHero acquired San Francisco-based peer-to-peer parking marketplace ParkPlease.[34][35]

In April 2017, SpotHero acquired Parking Panda, a Baltimore-based services and event parking company.[36][37] The acquisition expanded SpotHero into Canada, and brought the number of parking locations the company could reserve at to over 5,000.[36][37]

In November 2020, SpotHero acquired the Toronto-based app Rover Parking, helping the company access thousands more parking locations across Canada.[38]

See also

References
  1. "500 of SpotHero's Chicago Parking Areas Now Ready for Driverless Cars". Americaninno.com. July 10, 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  2. "SpotHero launches developer platform to expand its parking inventory into third-party apps". Venturebeat.com. February 14, 2017. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  3. "On Demand Parking App SpotHero Raises $4.5 Million In Series A Funding". MarketWatch. 2014-06-11. Retrieved 2015-01-14.
  4. Kate Rogers, "SpotHero: An app that makes parking reservations," CNBC, May 7, 2015.
  5. Kia Kokalitcheva, "SpotHero launches its parking app in SF, and on-demand valet startups should worry," VentureBeat, December 9, 2014.
  6. Alex Moazed, "SpotHero Paves the Way for Parking," Inc., November 18, 2016.
  7. "Chicago's SpotHero Raises 2.5mm to Bring Sanity to Urban Parking". Forbes. 2012-12-13. Retrieved 2015-01-14.
  8. Rao, Leena (2012-12-13). "SpotHero Raises $2.5M From Battery, Lightbank To Help You Reserve Parking In Garages". Tech Crunch. Retrieved 2015-01-14.
  9. Janega, James (2014-06-11). "SpotHero announces new funding, board members". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2015-01-14.
  10. Kristen Hall-Geisler, "SpotHero is ready for the future of autonomous parking," TechCrunch, September 8, 2016.
  11. John Pletz, "SpotHero tops off with another $30 million," Crain's Chicago Business, July 18, 2017.
  12. "SpotHero raises $10 million to hire developers, upgrade its parking reservation tech". Chicago Tribune. September 6, 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  13. "SpotHero Announces $50 Million Series D Funding Led by Macquarie Capital". www.businesswire.com. 2019-08-22. Retrieved 2020-11-01.
  14. Sara Ashley O’Brien, "App could save you from parking tickets", New York Post, September 21, 2013.
  15. Matney, Lucas (2015-08-19). "On-Demand Parking Service SpotHero Raises $20M In Series B". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2015-10-23.
  16. Kokalitcheva, Kia (2015-08-19). "Forget valet apps — SpotHero raises $20 million to let people park their own cars". Fortune. Retrieved 2015-11-26.
  17. Ally Marotti, "SpotHero expands to LA, plans to add other West Coast cities", Chicago Tribune, July 19, 2016.
  18. Meg Graham, "Chicago-based parking startup SpotHero pulls into 13 new markets", Chicago Tribune, January 26, 2017.
  19. "The a16z Marketplace 100: Index". a16z.com. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  20. "SpotHero raises $50 million to bring underutilized parking spaces online". Venture Beat. August 22, 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  21. Paul Sawers, "SpotHero for Business launches to help employees submit parking expenses directly", VentureBeat, March 15, 2017.
  22. Paul Sawers, "SpotHero launches developer platform to expand its parking inventory into third-party apps", VentureBeat, February 14, 2017.
  23. Cheryl V. Jackson, "SpotHero, WageWorks team up for pretax on-demand parking near your job", Chicago Tribune, May 16, 2017.
  24. "Genius Companies 2018: SpotHero". Time. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  25. "Chicago's SpotHero, Cameo join Apple, Amazon and other tech giants on Time list of companies 'inventing the future'". Chicago Tribune. October 4, 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  26. "Waze Lights the Beacons to Guide Drivers Through Chicago's Tangled Streets". Wired. September 12, 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  27. "Chicago is installing beacons to keep your GPS from freaking out on Lower Wacker". Chicago Tribune. August 29, 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  28. "SpotHero is getting parking garages ready for driverless cars". Chicago Tribune. July 23, 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  29. "SpotHero introduces 500 autonomous car-ready garages in Chicago". Venturebeat.com. July 10, 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  30. "Moovit trials smart parking service in San Francisco". Cities Today. March 14, 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  31. "Moovit taps SpotHero to show parking spots in multi-modal transit app". Venturebeat.com. March 12, 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  32. "Waze and SpotHero partnership aims to cut parking-based congestion". Traffic Technology Today. June 28, 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  33. Council, Jared (January 29, 2020). "SpotHero to Launch AI System for Dynamically Priced Parking". Wall Street Journal.
  34. Amina Elahi, "SpotHero buys ParkPlease in attempt to bolster San Francisco presence," Chicago Tribune, April 21, 2015.
  35. John Pletz, "SpotHero acquires San Francisco competitor," Crain's Chicago Business, April 21, 2015.
  36. Amina Elahi, "SpotHero buys Baltimore-based competitor Parking Panda," Chicago Tribune, April 13, 2017.
  37. Kristen Hall-Geisler, "SpotHero acquires Parking Panda," TechCrunch, April 13, 2017.
  38. Chen, I-Chun (September 10, 2020). "SpotHero to buy Rover Parking to continue expansion in Canada". Chicago Business Journal.
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