SpotHero, an app to help drivers find and reserve parking, announces $4.5 million Series A investment round today. Though based in Chicago, SpotHero has a presence in six other metro areas,
including D.C., where the company works out of the 1776 tech campus. The funding round includes investments from funders from the Chicago area and the West Coast: Chicago Ventures, Bullpen Capital, Battery Ventures, OCA Ventures, Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Lightbank, G2T3V, e.ventures, Draper Associates and 500 Startups.
SpotHero was cofounded by Mark Lawrence and Jeremy Smith in 2011. The platform, which is available on iOS, Android and online, helps drivers find places to park, compare rates and reserve spots in advance. The platform helps garage and lot owners fill unused spots. The app is free for drivers; spot owners pay a small commission when a parking spot is rented through Spot Hero.
"This investment is really going to help us grow," explains Elise Fox, director of PR for SpotHero. "We're going to continue to make parking a better experience. We hope to open a D.C. office. The D.C. market is very special to us."
While SpotHero might be eyeing expansion to additional cities on the West Coast, Fox says that the first priority "expanding our current markets. We need more supply in in our existing cities."
SpotHero previously raised a $2.5 million seed round in December 2012. Since that time, the company has grown from a team of 5 to a team of 25 employees and has expanded operations from Chicago to New York, D.C., Boston, Baltimore, Newark and Milwaukee. In addition to 1776, the company maintains offices in Chicago, New York and San Diego.
"We're going to continue to work on the parking industry," Fox says. "People [were] sick of parking tickets. Now you can reserve [parking] online and pay online. We've updated the industry. We're a solution that needed to be found."