Zencity Raises $13.5M To Help Cities Make Data-Driven Decisions

ZenCity, an Israeli startup that uses AI to help cities and local governments make data-smart decisions, has raised $13.5 million a funding round led by venture capital firm TLV Partners. Strategic investor Salesforce Ventures also participated in the round, as did the company’s existing investors – Canaan Partners Israel (CPI), Vertex Ventures, M12 – Microsoft’s Venture Fund, and i3 Equity Partners.

The startup was among two winners of the first Innovative.AI competition hosted by M12 in May 2018.

Founded in 2015, ZenCity uses artificial intelligence to analyze data points such as conversations on social media, city hotlines, and other sources to deliver actionable insights on communities’ needs and priorities to local government agencies.

Currently, ZenCity’s platform is used in over 150 cities and counties worldwide – including major US cities such as Los Angeles, Houston and Chicago. 

The company said in a statement that additional cities have joined its network over these few months as municipalities and local governments looked for a coherent response to residents’ needs during the COVID-19 crisis. These include Austin, Texas and Long Beach, California.

The latest funding will help ZenCity continue to expand its abilities, build new strategic partnerships and further expand its market presence, the company said.

“We are proud to be able to help the heroic women and men of local government at a time when resident feedback is incredibly valuable and are looking forward to continuing in these efforts thanks to our incredible partners,” said ZenCity co-founder and CEO Eyal Feder-Levy. “Now more than ever, this investment is further proof of local governments’ acute need for real-time resident feedback. The ability to provide municipal leaders with actionable data improves the efficiency and effectiveness of their work.” 

Eitan Bek, a managing partner at TLV Partners, said: “This is our first investment in a government focused company, and we see the amazing potential in supporting this sector’s needs. It is usually a ‘tough’ market to penetrate, let alone scale in, and we were inspired by what Eyal, Ido and their government-obsessed team have been able to achieve.”