Populous, a San Francisco-based transportation data startup, got its start when a collective scootermania took hold and cities were trying to understand how infrastructure could be leveraged by fleets of small vehicles.
Now, Populus Co-founder and CEO Regina Clewlow is positioning the company, which collects data on transit fleets and shares them with cities, to take advantage of another hot opportunity: curbs and congestion.
Populus continues to ride the micromobility wave and expand into other areas such as commercial vessels, ride-on snowmobiles and other new forms of mobility such as autonomous vehicles. Its software-as-a-service product, which is currently used in more than 100 cities in the US and Israel; It collects data on shared fleets such as scooters, ebikes and car sharing. That data is shared with cities to help planners and regulators understand and manage how roads are used. Cities can use the Populus API to share information such as restrictions on motorized vehicles, preferred scooter parking areas and information on bike lanes, with mapping platforms and other third parties.
Clawlo challenges the next big, and today’s growth opportunity with Populus’ curb management feature, which provides data on how curbs are being used so you can set flexible pricing and free up congestion. That opportunity is being driven by increasing demand for same-day and next-day delivery.
The company will use its new $11 million in venture capital raised in the Series A round to grow its existing product and curb management software. The money will also be used to make key strategic hires, Clewlow said, adding that Populus hopes to double its current headcount of 25 people next year.
The round was co-led by Zero Infinity Partners and Climatic with participation from Comcast Ventures and Robert Downey Jr.’s Footprint Alliance Ventures.
Populus’ curb management software will enable cities to better manage their mobility, from commercial delivery operations to future autonomous vehicles, Clewlow told TechCrunch. “Cities can receive data from parking lot operators on our platform so they know where the most demand is, and then create new parking policies and enforce them on our platform.”
The data is particularly useful for cities trying to reduce emissions and improve air quality. While many delivery companies are testing e-cargo bikes or autonomous sidewalk robots, the majority of delivery today is still completed by gas-powered cars and vans, which are major contributors to tailpipe emissions in urban areas.
Populus says the controller’s management software can prompt fleet operators to park in areas that minimize collisions. At the same time, smart policies powered by Populus’ curb data can encourage delivery operators to use smaller, more carbon-efficient modes of transportation.
Going forward, Populus wants to focus on congestion pricing in cities like New York to discourage driving in urban centers.
“There’s no reason why our platform can’t be used to manage the increasingly connected, in-zone and out-of-zone vehicles,” Clawlow said.
Although Populus is mostly located in North America, the startup has reached as far as Tel Aviv, and is pursuing several pilots in major European cities, looking to expand.
