SpotHero

SpotHero
Privately held company
Founded 2011
Founder Mark Lawrence, Larry Kiss, & Jeremy Smith
Headquarters 325 W Huron St.
Chicago, IL
Area served
 United States
Key people
 Elan Mosbacher, Leah Potkin, Tim Maloney, Jason Pinter, Elissa Beckman, Kristen Cho
Products Parking spaces
Services On Demand Parking Marketplace
Website spothero.com

SpotHero is an on-demand parking mobile app- and website-based marketplace that connects parking lots, parking garages and valet services that comprise the marketplace for parking spaces with drivers who need to find and reserve them.[1] The company was co-founded by Mark Lawrence, Larry Kiss, and Jeremy Smith and is based in Chicago.[1]

History and Early Beginnings

The founders were motivated to start SpotHero because based on their experience with excessive parking tickets, they felt there should be a better way to park.[2] After its early beginnings at TechNexus,[3] SpotHero was molded at the Excelerate Labs technology incubator that is now known as TechStars Chicago. When it raised $2.5 million in venture capital funds from Battery Ventures (Lead), 500 Startups, Bullet Time, e.Ventures, OCA Ventures, New World Ventures, Lightbank, & Draper VC in December 2012, it only served Milwaukee and Chicago.[4][5] In June 2014, SpotHero raised an additional $4.5 million in funding and announced new board of directors members (LinkedIn's Mike Gamson, Match.com's Sam Yagan and venture capitalist Sam Guren).[6]

Growth and Expansion

In the 18 months between the first two rounds of funding, the company expanded from 5 to 22 full-time employees, grew to 7 business markets (Chicago, New York, Washington DC, Boston, Baltimore, Newark and Milwaukee) and opened an office in New York City.[1] Following the second round of funding the company planned to expand to Western and Southwestern United States cities such as Dallas, Houston, San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles.[7] The company works with leading parking operators including ABM Parking Services, Impark, LAZ Parking and Chicago-based Standard Parking.

By August 2015, the business, which serviced 12 cities: Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New Orleans, Newark, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington DC, raised $20 million in a series B round.[8][9] As of February 2016, SpotHero was considered Washington D.C.'s "biggest parking marketplace."[10]

On October 20 2015, former Zipcar executive John Horton joined the SpotHero team as the GM to lead and grow the team in New York City.[11]

Usability

The SpotHero app helps providers list available spaces for motorists who use the free mobile app or website and the SpotHero QR code or confirmation code.[7] Drivers save time and money by using the app, and have the confidence that a space will be waiting for them when they arrive.[2]

SpotHero focuses on daily and monthly off street parking.[12] One of the company's early rivals was ParkWhiz,[3] which began with an event parking business model.[13]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 "On Demand Parking App SpotHero Raises $4.5 Million In Series A Funding". MarketWatch. 2014-06-11. Retrieved 2015-01-14.
  2. 1 2 Rogers, Kate (2014-07-16). "SpotHero's Founder Wants to Take Hassle out of Big City Parking". FOX Business. Retrieved 2015-01-15.
  3. 1 2 "Investors park $4.5 million in SpotHero". Crain's Chicago Business. 2014-06-11. Retrieved 2015-01-14.
  4. ↑ "Chicago's SpotHero Raises 2.5mm to Bring Sanity to Urban Parking". Forbes. 2012-12-13. Retrieved 2015-01-14.
  5. ↑ Rao, Leena (2012-12-13). "SpotHero Raises $2.5M From Battery, Lightbank To Help You Reserve Parking In Garages". Tech Crunch. Retrieved 2015-01-14.
  6. ↑ Janega, James (2014-06-11). "SpotHero announces new funding, board members". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2015-01-14.
  7. 1 2 Guy, Sandra (2014-06-11). "How this company landed $4.5M to help you find a parking spot". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2015-01-14.
  8. ↑ Matney, Lucas (2015-08-19). "On-Demand Parking Service SpotHero Raises $20M In Series B". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2015-10-23.
  9. ↑ Kokalitcheva, Kia (2015-08-19). "Forget valet apps — SpotHero raises $20 million to let people park their own cars". Fortune. Retrieved 2015-11-26.
  10. ↑ "SpotHero Expands in Washington D.C., Now the Biggest & Most Affordable Parking Reservation Service In D.C. Metro Area". Yahoo Finance. Retrieved 2016-06-13.
  11. ↑ Matney, Lucas. "Parking App SpotHero Doubles Down On NYC, Hires Former Zipcar GM To Lead Charge". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2015-10-20.
  12. ↑ "Heroic App Lets People Book Parking Spots Like They Do Hotels". Huffington Post. 2014-03-19. Retrieved 2015-01-15.
  13. ↑ Hendershot, Steve (2011-10-08). "ParkWhiz's Aashish Dalal tells you where to park it". Crain's Chicago Business. Retrieved 2015-01-14.
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