Smart Parking Startup Park+ Raises $11 Mn from Sequoia, Matrix Partners

Delhi NCR-based Park+, which lets consumers book parking spots around cities, has announced raising $11 Mn in funding from marquee VCs, Sequoia Capital and Matrix Partners.

The funding round also witnessed participation from 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.

Speaking to Inc42, Park+ founder Amit Lakhotia said that the company would be rebranding completely in the near future.

Founded by ex-Paytm VP Lakhotia in July 2019, Park+ is still in the testing phase and is working with a group of select users at this time, according to the founder. The smartphone app lets drivers and vehicle owners find and book open parking spots, and works with corporates and commercial establishments to add to the inventory. The company provides real-time parking discovery, booking, payment and tracking.

Lakhotia told Inc42 that the funds will be utilised for building the platform, raising the supply i.e. discovering and adding more parking spots and getting users to adopt. He added that those with parking spaces can join the platform and look to earn extra income from such vacant spots, which are often left unused for years.

He added that parking itself is a huge problem that is unsolved. “It is a new category that is being created right now. Once we have successfully created this, we will be looking at expanding our platform at a functional level as well as geographically.”

The automated parking system market is still in the nascent stage at the moment and a lot of startups are foraying into space. Apart from Park+, startups in the space include Get My Parking, ParkingRhino among others. Bengaluru-based Get My Parking had raised $3 Mn funding led by IAN Fund, BEENEXT and Indian Angel Network back in September 2017.

According to MarketsandMarkets report, the automated parking systems market reached a value of  $1.3 Bn in 2019 and was projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.1% from 2019 to 2027. The growth of the sector is fuelled by the rising demand for vehicles in cities, urbanisation and urban migration, the rise of sectors such as food delivery hyperlocal and ecommerce amid a scarcity of parking spaces and growing demand for reliable parking spots.