ImpactAlpha, October 16 – Coord is an Alphabet-owned Sidewalk Labs spinoff aiming to improve urban mobility. The data company helps ride service drivers find legal stopping zones for pick-up, for example, and integrates toll-road information on map services. Its partners include Google Maps and Zipcar.
The New York-based company has raised a $5 million Series A with backing from Alliance Ventures, Trucks, Urban.Us and DB Digital Ventures. With the new funding, Coord is looking to support the integration of public and private sector city transport.
Startups, from Uber to Bird, have changed the way people move around cities. Most of these services have faced pushback and legal challenges as they’ve expanded. Meanwhile, public transit systems struggle to fund and maintain their systems as cities expand.
“Our goal is to help the public and private sectors speak the same language when it comes to urban transportation,” Coord’s co-founder Stephen Smyth wrote on Medium. Smyth added that he believes users will increasingly demand better integration of transit information and services.
“Think of the potential for job opportunities, cultural experiences and social connections when we can help people and goods get from point A to point B, seamlessly,” said Smyth.
Coord got its start in 2016 as part of Sidewalk Labs, which is Alphabet’s experimental hub for urban innovation. In January, another Sidewalk Labs spinoff—Cityblock—raised almost $21 million to integrate community health services in cities like New York.
