Hayden AI Raises $90M To Make Sure You Don’t Park There

Next time you think about double parking, remember a San Francisco-based startup just raised a big Series C to help make sure you don’t.

Hayden AI, a vision AI platform, locked in a $90 million growth equity round led by The Rise Fund — TPG’s impact investing platform — with participation from existing investors Drawdown Fund, Autotech Ventures and others.

While the company’s platform uses cameras mounted on buses that can spot illegal parking or moving violations, it also can do more. The platform uses geospatial data collection sensor systems to give cities insights to improve traffic safety and accessibility. It can detect and predict traffic congestion, improve transportation networks and more.

“With The Rise Fund, we can develop our platform into a true urban operating system – processing data and generating actionable insights that help cities become more livable for everyone,” said Chris Carson, founder and CEO.

The company said in New York City its automated camera enforcement has resulted in 5% faster buses and 20% fewer vehicle collisions.

Founded in 2019, the company has now raised more than $193 million, per Crunchbase.

Govtech goes big

The funding is the largest received by a startup in the govtech sector this year, but it is by no means the only one.

In fact, govtech startups have already raised $271.4 million this year, per Crunchbase data. That already surpasses last year’s total of $249.7 million invested into the sector.

In addition, govtech saw a huge exit back in February, when software provider OpenGov agreed to sell a majority stake to existing shareholder Cox Enterprises at a $1.8 billion valuation.

That deal caught a lot of investors’ attention — which likely hasn’t hurt fundraising in the sector.