Chicago based startup SpotHero is using a peer to peer network to help users search and pre-book parking in the city. On December 13 the firm got $2.5 million in funding that will be used to help the company grow and expand into other cities. Battery Ventures led the investment round and was joined by 500 Startups, New World Ventures, Lightbank, and others.
SpotHero got started in the beginning of 2012 and has since covered Chicago and Milwaukee and wil now use the fresh cash to get more engineers and cover more cities. The startup has not declared what cities it will be moving to next but it seem that Los angeles and New York are good options because of their heavy traffic.
CEO and founder Mark Lawrence said that, “We got to a point where we were profitable in Chicago, and we literally just expanded to Milwaukee very, very recently, and we wanted to raise the money so we can really build this product out and take it across the country.” He went on tot say that they will be joining hands with new parking garages and lot owners in expansions cities and will also take advantage of current operators that have locations in other cities.
SpotHero gives users the ability to use their iPhone to locate parking spots in parking garages and above-ground lots. This keeps them from searching for street parking which can be a time consuming task. The interesting part about the service is that users can book and pay for a spot through their phone s o they will have a reserved spot when they arrive. They can show an email confirmation or print out a copy to leave in the car for verification.
The starup has a iOS app and website but added an Android app on December 13. For now most of the users go to the website to book a spot but the introduction of the mobile apps should help users purchase on the go.
Lawrence talked about the biggest threat to the business and said that, “Our biggest competitor is not ParkingPanda, it’s not online parking companies. Our biggest competitor is people parking on the street. It’s people who park without using any informational tools.”
Source: BetaKit
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