Kleiner Perkins Leads $37 Million Round In Realtime Traffic Data Company Inrix

Realtime car traffic data company Inrix has raised $37 million in series D funding led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers’ Green Growth Fund and August Capital. This brings Inrix’s funding to nearly $70 million. Post-funding, Inrix’s valuation is just shy of $500 million.

Inrix aggregates and crowdsources real-time traffic information from more than 10 million spurces including cars, taxis, delivery vehicles, trucks and other channels, Inrix’s data software aggregates and enhances traffic-related information from hundreds of public and private sources and then sells this data to mobile app developers and websites.

Currently the company offers data for 22 countries across North America and Europe and reaches more than 100 million users. Inrix’s partners include Audi AG, ADAC, ALK, ANWB, Coyote, the Ford Motor Company, I-95 Coalition, MapQuest, Microsoft, NAVIGON, Tele Atlas, Telmap, TeleNav, Texas Transportation Institute and Toyota.

For example, Audi and Toyota are using Inrix traffic services in their vehicles starting with the new Audi A6 in Europe and Toyota Entune-equipped Prius V and Camry in North America. Inrix currently powers Ford SYNC traffic and navigation services.

Inrix also offers traffic apps for the iPhone and Android platforms, which have seen 1.5 million downloads. The company also white labels traffic apps for Ford, Navigon, and Pioneer. And Inrix partners with U.S. and European regional transportation agencies to help manage their road networks and provide travel information to the public, and more.

With all these partnerships and licensing agreements, Inrix, which is profitable, is growing revenue by nearly a 100 percent year over year. The company’s CEO Bryan Mistele tell us that his goal is to “be the Google of traffic info.”

Mistele says that the company didn’t necessarily need to raise money but decided that a cash influx would help scale Inrix to the next level. The new investment will be used to fuel acquisition efforts, continued global expansion and research and development.