Short Parking Stories
October, 2018
ParkWhiz Closes $20M Equity Round to Accelerate Growth
ParkWhiz announced that it closed $20 million in new funding as part of its Series D financing. The round was led by NewSpring, a prominent family of private equity funds, with participation from existing investors, including Baird Capital, Jump Capital and Beringea.
The proceeds will be used to continue the company’s rapid growth of its transactional parking network, expand its footprint into new geographies, and further evolve its connected and autonomous technology to better serve drivers, parking operators, and platform distribution partners.
Founded in 2007 and based in Chicago, ParkWhiz provides seamless access to thousands of parking lots and garages in over 190 cities across North America, with hundreds of new facilities joining the network every month. The company uniquely embeds its services directly into the user journeys of more than 300 distribution partners through the ParkWhiz Platform.
“Off-street parking is a large, growing market internationally and we are proud to be a leader in the space,” said Yona Shtern, CEO of ParkWhiz. “The rapid adoption of connected and autonomous mobility services coupled with our complementary business models creates an extremely attractive market opportunity for us to expand into and foster new partnerships with consumer brands, parking operators, and asset owners. We’re thrilled to join forces with the NewSpring team as we enter this exciting phase of expansion.”
“ParkWhiz deploys an innovative approach to a frictionless parking experience, having already accomplished impressive growth in its market,” commented Glenn Rieger, NewSpring General Partner. “With strong brand recognition, both among consumers and Platform partners, and an accessible, efficient technology, we believe ParkWhiz is ideally-positioned for continued growth and scale. NewSpring is thrilled to partner with Yona and the rest of the ParkWhiz management team.”
Ace Parking Launches Fifth Year for PARK FOR PINK Campaign
Ace Parking’s award-winning PARK FOR PINK campaign kicks off its fifth consecutive year of raising awareness and generating funds to aid in the fight against cancer.
This year, Ace is teaming up with the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition and the Ovarian Cancer Alliance in cities across America to help raise awareness and save lives. September is National Ovarian Cancer Month and October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
During these two months, Ace is turning pink for breast cancer awareness as in previous years, and also teal, to represent the addition of ovarian cancer awareness to this year’s campaign.
To help raise awareness, Ace Parking teams across the country will participate in Ovarian Cancer Awareness events throughout September. In October, Ace will once again temporarily change many of its well-recognized parking lot signs to pink-colored PARK FOR PINK signage with a custom logo. Team members will wear pink wristbands with teal lettering to celebrate Ace Parking’s pledge. Additionally, the official Ace Parking website will have a custom design to support the cause.
“PARK FOR PINK was inspired by my own family’s fight against cancer, as well as the struggle of many others in our Ace Parking family,” said Keith B. Jones, third generation Owner & Managing Partner of Ace Parking. “Because so many are directly or indirectly impacted by cancer, I am privileged to utilize Ace Parking as a platform to support those who are suffering, those who treat and support cancer patients, and those who are working to find the cures.”
For the last four years, the PARK FOR PINK program has generated over $250,000, which has been donated directly to organizations such as the Susan G. Komen® Foundation for breast cancer research, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to cure blood cancers, the American Cancer Society to help patients and their families, directly to oncology departments within hospitals, to the purchase of the da Vinci Xi robotic surgical system, and to other worthy organizations in their quest to find a cure and treat those who are challenged with the disease.
INDECT Featured at Colorado Department of Transportation’s New Denver Headquarters
INDECT was contracted by the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) to install a state-of-the-art ultrasonic parking guidance system to make parking in the new 330 space parking garage that much easier. The parking garage is centrally located beside Broncos Stadium at Mile High, with separate staff and visitor spaces accessible through dedicated entries.
The INDECT parking guidance system (PGS) features the installation of sensors over each of the garage’s parking spaces to monitor whether individual spaces are occupied or available. The status of each space is indicated by highly visible LED lights, with different colors indicating each space’s status and user group: green for available, red for occupied, blue for handicapped parking, and clear for electric vehicle charging stations. The lights are clearly visible to drivers when they enter so they can quickly determine where spaces are available. A monument style sign is installed at each of the garage entries to advise customers of real time parking availability as they approach the garage.
“Parking guidance is the most important technological advancement that the parking industry has seen in more than a generation,” said Stephen Evans, manager of INDECT’s Colorado office. “Not only does it make the parking experience much easier and more pleasant, but PGS programs also record invaluable utilization data that can be used to operate parking resources more efficiently and effectively. Parking guidance is becoming increasingly common and it won’t be long before it is ubiquitous.”
The CDOT parking guidance project was unique in that it required the creation of custom signage through which all signage casings are manufactured in safety orange to match the Department’s brand colors. The custom logo on the monument sign is an LED, backlit, push-through with acrylic lettering to enhance visibility and increase the “pop’ of the sign.
ETA Honors Payments Leaders with 2018 Star Awards
The Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) announced the winners of the 2018 Star Awards at the Visa President’s Dinner and Star Awards Gala at TRANSACT, the premier payments technology event. The Star Awards honors individuals and companies that have made a significant difference in the payments industry through innovation, business practices, or contributions to the association.
“The ETA Star Awards are the highest honor in our industry,” said Jason Oxman, CEO of ETA. “TRANSACT is the annual gathering of the payments industry, and the Visa President’s Dinner and Star Awards Gala gives us a chance to recognize and honor those who have given the most to help our industry grow. Congratulations to our winners who have dedicated themselves to the success of the industry.”
Distinguished Payments Professional, Henry Helgeson
Henry Helgeson, President, Integrated Solutions for TSYS, was announced as the Distinguished Payments Professional. The award recognizes a significant leader within the industry, who is an acknowledged trend-setter, role model, and positive contributor to its efficacy and image.
Business Partner of the Year, Mastercard
Mastercard was announced as the Business Partner of the Year for their exceptional level of support to further the goals and objectives of ETA.
Committee Volunteer of the Year, David Leppek, Transaction Services
David Leppek was announced as the ETA Committee Volunteer of the Year for his dedication to the Payment Sales & Strategy Committee.
ISO/Merchant Sales Organization of the Year, iPayment, Inc.
iPayment, Inc was announced as ISO/Merchant Sales as a recognition for their actions to move the payments industry forward and meeting industry challenges with demonstrated results.
Pay It Forward, FIS
FIS was announced as the winner of the Pay It Forward award for their community service efforts to improve their community.
Technology Innovation, IRIS CRM
IRIS CRM was recognized for their technology that provides for creative solutions that promotes customer usability, increase profitability, or otherwise enable significant advances for the industry.
