Israel’s Zencity Raises Additional $30M To Help Local Governments

Israeli startup Zencity, a company that runs a platform providing community insights and analytics to better inform state and local governments, announced an additional $30 million in funding on Tuesday, bringing the company’s overall funds raised to $51 million.

The company’s existing investors participated in the round, and deepened their investment, including TLV Partners, Vertex Ventures Israel, Salesforce Ventures, M12 (Microsoft’s venture fund), and Canaan Partners Israel. 

Founded in 2015, Zencity’s platform aims to help local leaders plan, budget, and strategize better. By aggregating data and using AI to analyze it, Zencity provides its clients with community input and insights based on constituent feedback and polling.

Zencity said the additional funding will go toward improving the company’s platform and increasing its capabilities. It will also help Zencity expand within existing markets and to new ones, especially in the UK and Australia. The company says it already works with hundreds of local governments across four continents, including more than 200 government agencies in the US.

“The past year has proven, more than ever before, that local governments are the most essential institutions of our society. We’re proud that our platform has played a role in helping leaders take into account more voices from across their communities and has helped them ensure they work for all their residents as they navigate this pivotal time,” said Eyal Feder-Levy, CEO and co-founder of Zencity. “We’re humbled that our existing investors — who know our work, progress, and the impact that our product has on government decision-making — chose to lead this extraordinary round. This funding will allow us to double down on being a real force multiplier to our government partners.”

Since its most recent announced investment in August 2020, Zencity says its “residents impacted” metric has more than tripled, the number of agencies using the platform has doubled, its revenue has tripled, and its staff has grown to over 100 people.

“Working with Zencity closely over the past year has been a rare opportunity to help realize one of the most exciting visions I have ever come across as an investor, for changing the landscape of an industry. And in Zencity’s case, this vision has been coupled with impeccable execution,” said Eitan Bek, managing partner at TLV Partners.

This execution has helped cities, counties, state agencies, and law enforcement hear their constituents better, especially those who may be less civically engaged, the company claims.

“As one of Zencity’s early investors, watching the company execute so well on its vision to help local government agencies better serve their residents is inspiring,” said Emanuel Timor, general partner at Vertex Ventures Israel. “Zencity’s platform has already improved how tens of millions of Americans are able to engage with government leaders.