Wayleadr founder and CEO Garret Flower. Image: Wayleadr
The funding led by Third Prime will help Wayleadr expand its footprint in the US and double its workforce globally.
Wayleadr has raised $4m in funding to further develop its SaaS platform for last-mile automation.
Founded in Ireland as ParkOffice and now headquartered in New York, the start-up makes technology that connects smart buildings and vehicles to help remove the guesswork from the last mile of a journey where parking may be scarce.
According to Deloitte research, people in the US on an average spend 17 hours per year searching for parking, costing around $345 per driver in wasted time, fuel and emissions. The numbers are significantly higher for big cities such as New York and LA.
Using automation and a machine learning algorithm, Wayleadr aims to reduce the time taken to find parking spaces and eliminate frustration for drivers. It has developed a platform to manage and optimise employee parking, allowing workers to check availability, book spaces and release parking spots.
Wayleadr now has clients in 21 countries, including eBay, Sanofi, L’Oreal and CBRE, and aims to use the latest funding to further expand its footprint in the US this year.
The funding, led by US venture capital firm Third Prime, will also be used to double the start-up’s workforce in the US and worldwide. As well as its headquarters in New York, the start-up has a base in Dublin.
Wayleadr founder and CEO Garret Flower, who is also the founder of parking app Parkpnp, said that last-mile automation gives people “a sense of ease” when driving from one location to another.
“We use software to help people get to their destinations with less stress and uncertainty while en route working with landlords and large enterprise companies,” he added. “By making journeys easier, Wayleadr gives people the most valuable commodity back in their lives: time!”
Third Prime is a VC firm that focuses on next-generation proptech companies. Keith Hamlin, a founding partner at Third Prime, said Wayleadr’s technology “elegantly addresses the collective pain of building owners, operators and tenants” in finding parking with “simple integrations to existing workflows”.
“As we head toward a world of autonomous and shared vehicles, we believe Wayleadr will be well positioned to further optimise these spaces and provide even greater value and convenience for its constituents,” Hamlin added.
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