Israeli Startup Waycare Lands $7.25M For AI-Powered Traffic Improvements

Mobility platform Waycare announced that it has raised $7.25 million in Series A funding. The round was led by SJF Ventures, with participation from UpWest, Next Gear Ventures, innogy, Spider Capital, Goldbell, Zymestic Solutions and Janom. The funding will be used toward Waycare’s expansion efforts in North America and Europe, and on enhancements to its cloud-based platform.

Founded in Israel, Waycare, which also has an office in Los Angeles, uses artificial intelligence (AI) to improve traffic and safety management operations.

“Transportation agencies across the world are grappling with the burden of improving traffic safety and congestion that affects their city’s residents, while, at the same time, meeting the demands of rapid changes in the mobility sector,” said Noam Maital, CEO of Waycare, in a press release. “Waycare is fortunate to be at the crossroads of serving the public sector, while partnering with the wider mobility ecosystem to help cities and states build the next generation of transportation operating systems.”

The company also announced that Jim Ray, former senior advisor to USDOT Secretary Elaine Chao, will be joining its board of directors.

“As someone who has been working in the public sector for many years, what is exciting about Waycare is that [it] can be a key to enabling the public sector to adapt to the changes that are coming our way,” said Ray.

In addition, Waycare is working toward the future adoption of new mobility solutions, such as autonomous vehicles, micro-transit, scooters and advanced public transit.

“Over the past decade, we’ve seen a transformation not only in the amount of data coming from various mobility modes, such as connected vehicles, but also in the advancement of artificial intelligence technologies to interpret and learn from data,” said Dan Geballe, partner at SJF Ventures. “Waycare is a prime example of how AI can be deployed in the public sector to better leverage data and existing infrastructure to improve outcomes — in this case, reducing traffic, injuries and deaths on the roads.”