CitySwift, the Galway-based leader in data intelligence for the public transport sector, has announced the closing of its latest funding round, securing €7 million. The round was led by Gresham House Ventures, a growth equity investor specialising in scaling businesses across a range of sectors in Ireland and the UK, investing €5 million. Led by Benjamin Faulkner and Tom Makey, the investment formed part of a €7 million round with all existing investors following including Irelandia Investments, the Western Development Commission, and ACT Venture Capital (with Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) has an investor in ACT Venture Capital).
Speaking in support of CitySwift, Allan Mulrooney, CEO of Western Development Commission said “Our Investment Fund provided an initial investment of €250k in 2018 but has since gone on to support numerous funding rounds including €500k as part of this most recent one. To date we have invested €2.1m in the company. Since our initial investment the company has continued to grow and scale, with plans to double its headcount in the next 12 months. CitySwift is on an upward trajectory which is evidenced in the clients and customer based they have build up. Our focus is on long term, strategic investment and job creation and continuing to support companies from our first investment, which has led to this follow on investment.”
CitySwift is an intelligent transport data platform that increases the performance of public transport networks using AI-powered analytics, simulations and optimisations. Based in Galway, Ireland, CitySwift works with public sector transport authorities and private bus operators to break down the barriers to accessing and interpreting transport data. CitySwift’s platform aggregates, cleans and enriches data from hundreds of sources, providing both operators and authorities with an accurate single source of truth.
Brian O’Rourke, Co-founder and CEO at CitySwift, said: “Public transport services have to be reliable and efficient to drive passenger growth, and key to this is leveraging AI and data to ensure the transport networks of the future meet ever-changing customer needs. This investment is a massive vote of confidence in CitySwift’s platform and people. It will support us in expanding our team so we can continue to deliver the best transport data product and service for both authorities and operators, further positioning CitySwift as the catalyst for growing demand for public transport.”
CitySwift’s customer base has grown by 150% in the last 12 months, covering transport networks in all of the major UK cities including London, Manchester, Birmingham, Belfast, and the entire country of Wales. Notable clients include National Express, Go-Ahead Group, Transport for Wales, Metroline, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Translink and Blackpool Transport. With current trends in hybrid working and leisure travel levels increasing, cities are looking to become more agile in their operations to ensure passengers can access fit-for-purpose, convenient transport services. Rapid access to accurate data across the entire network fuels this collaboration, enabling both parties to take a more dynamic, data-driven approach to move passengers away from private modes of transport to more sustainable, climate-friendly public transportation.
The investment will be used to accelerate CitySwift’s growth, with the company planning to double headcount in the next two years. Additionally, these funds will go towards enabling CitySwift to further scale its platform development and end-to-end client services, securing the company’s reputation as the leading transportation data innovators in the Irish and global markets.
Speaking on today’s announcement, Benjamin Faulkner, Associate Director at Gresham House Ventures, said: “CitySwift’s growth in recent years has been impressive, and the team’s knowledge of both bus networks and data science makes this a compelling and unique proposition. With our experience working with other transport and mobility data businesses, we look forward to supporting CitySwift as it continues to deliver real-world benefits for transport passengers across the UK, Ireland and global markets over the coming years.”
The investment continues a busy period of dealmaking for Gresham House Ventures and extends its investment activity in the transport and intelligent data areas. The Gresham House Ventures existing investment portfolio includes VivaCity, FocalPoint and Branchspace.
