Parko seed round raises $1.1M for car-parking guidance API using crowdsourced data

Israeli startup Parko successfully raised $1.1 million in seed funding for its API, which uses crowdsourced data to help drivers find available parking spots in real time.

SparkLabs Global Ventures, OurCrowd, and European angel investors participated in the round. VoIP pioneer and Vonage co-founder Jeff Pulver also joined Parko’s board of advisors.

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Parko’s API can be integrated into any Android or iOS driving app, helping users discover optimal navigation routes to available parking spots through its parking availability information map-layer. Parko collects anonymous data when people park on the street, which spot they park on, and when they leave.

Parko also analyzes parking habits from users who opt in. Using these bits of information, Parko’s algorithms build real time maps of parking availability that are continuously updated from data sourced from the crowd.

Parko’s API also provides users door-to-door estimated time of arrival (ETA) that factors in how much time users can expect to search for a parking spot in their area, taking into consideration the time it would take a person to walk from the parking spot to their destination. Parko’s API is currently being integrated into US navigation and mobile parking payment solutions. The company also recently opened offices in San Francisco and Paris.

“Our technology provides a level playing field for people trying to find a parking space as quickly as possible.  It’s a real technology solution and not some archaic auction system that takes advantage of a public good,” says Parko CEO Tomer Neu-Ner in a statement on the news.