From left: Alan Farrelly and Brian O'Rourke. Image: CitySwift
Co-founder and CEO of CitySwift Brian O’Rourke said the investment was ‘a massive vote of confidence’ in the team and its tech.
Galway-headquartered transport data intelligence specialist CitySwift has today (1 February) announced it has secured €7m in funding.
The funding round was led by growth equity investor Gresham House Ventures, which invested €5m. The remainder was secured from existing CitySwift backers including Irelandia Investments, the Western Development Commission and ACT Venture Capital.
From its west of Ireland headquarters, CitySwift has been making waves across the world. It has had a number of successful funding rounds to date, including a €5m boost in 2022. At the time, the company said it would use the fresh funding to expand its platform, adding AI features for scheduling and more data tools to aid busy transport providers in cities around the world.
CitySwift has partnerships with the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority and with major UK bus operator, the National Express West Midlands. Both of these partnership deals were inked during the pandemic as transport companies sought to streamline their services.
The company’s growth has not stalled since the pandemic ended either. Over the last 12 months, it has grown its customer base by 150pc. As well as the two aforementioned clients, others include National Express, Go-Ahead Group, Transport for Wales, Metroline, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Translink and Blackpool Transport.
CitySwift plans to use its latest funding to double its headcount over the next two years. This is not the company’s first time to say it is doubling its workforce over a 24-month period; it made a similar announcement in 2020. As well as growing its team, it also wants to scale platform development and end-to-end client services.
Brian O’Rourke, co-founder and CEO of CitySwift, described the investment by Gresham House Ventures and others as “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.”
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.”
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