Get My Parking Raises $6 Mn From IvyCap To Tap Global Smart Parking Opportunity

Bengaluru-based mobility startup Get My Parking (GMP), which operates an Internet of Things-based smart parking platform, has announced raising INR 43 Cr ($6 Mn) in its latest funding round, led by IvyCap Ventures with existing investor IAN Fund also participating. Masterkey Holdings served as the investment banker for GMP’s funding round.

Founded in 2015 by Chirag Jain and Rasik Pansare, Get My Parking claims to have digitised over 3000 parking lots across Europe, the US, and India. Previously, the company had raised $3 Mn funding  in its Series A round from IAN Fund, BEENEXT and Indian Angel Network back in September 2017.

The startup will use the new funds to scale its IoT platform and deepen its presence in the US, Latin America and Australia markets, where the economy and businesses and slowly going back to normal with high vaccine penetration. The startup also plans to use the capital for hiring and expanding its team, with a focus on engineering and product teams.

GMP operates an IoT platform that enables digital monitoring and analytics for parking operators and facility managers. It enables consumer-focussed features such as online discovery of parking vacancy or capacity, as well as what parking tariff cards are accepted by the operator. Besides this, the startup allows parking facility operators to launch their own consumer app and loyalty programs with customisation.

It offers contactless access and cashless payments at these smart parking facilities. In the US and other western markets, where autonomous and connected cars are becoming increasingly common, the startup’s IoT kit GMP Access can be integrated into any legacy infrastructure or equipment with any app or cloud software. This allows connected cars and autonomous vehicles to conduct machine-to-machine interactions with parking gates for automated entry and payments. Recently, it collaborated with Mercedes-Benz to assist drivers in discovering and navigating to a relevant vacant spot nearby.

The startup works with parking operators such as APCOA Parking, which operates across 9000+ locations in 13 countries. Besides customers in Brazil, UAE, Australia, and Taiwan, the company forayed into the US market last year through a partnership with ParkTrans and signing up two large operators.

GMP’s tech solution is sold through a software-as-a-service model to parking operators. The SaaS product uses data-driven solutions branded GMP IQ and GMP AI to offer visualisations in a configurable admin dashboard to enable dynamic pricing, occupancy predictions, intelligent enforcement and more. The startup’s latest product GMP Permit enables operators to digitally manage and issue long-term parking permits online.

“Parking is an under-utilized real estate that is uniquely positioned to serve the changing urban needs. Our technology enables a seamless use of parking for shared mobility, storage and deliveries for e-commerce, EV charging, and on-the-fly automotive services. With our modular, affordable yet cutting-edge technology, we are confident of transforming parking lots into mobility hubs worldwide,” CEO and cofounder Jain said in a statement.

Cofounder Pansare added that the platform’s USP is that it offers parking infrastructure operators a single platform to manage dozens of equipment and tech vendors, which earlier used to work in silos offline.

Among Indian startups, Get My Parking competes with Delhi NCR-based Park+, ParkingRhino and others. Last year, Park+ raised $11 Mn from marquee VCs, Sequoia Capital and Matrix Partners as well as angel investors MakeMyTrip founder Deep Kalra and cofounder Rajesh Magow; BookMyShow founder and CEO Ashish Hemrajani; CRED founder Kunal Shah; Snapdeal cofounders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal among others.

According to MarketsandMarkets report, the automated parking systems market is estimated to grow from $1.3 Bn market size in 2019 to reach a market size of $3.6 Bn by 2027 at a CAGR of 13.1%. The growth of the sector is largely being driven by the need for contactless solutions in the post-pandemic world as well as the increasing use of autonomous and connected vehicles, which enable more seamless commuting experiences. It’s also being fuelled by the rising demand for smart solutions to enable efficiencies in mobility-dependent sectors such as food, hyperlocal and ecommerce delivery.