Kyle
Monday we reported that Chicago parking startup SpotHero had raised $2.5 million in funding. That was big news for the ExcelerateLabs alumni that’s currently working out of 1871. Now, we’ve heard that another Chicago parking startup called ParkWhiz has raised $2 million dollars.
ParkWhiz’ funding round was led by Hyde Park Venture Partners. Hyde Park Angels, Amicus Capital, Alexis Ohanian, Garry Tan, Henry J Feinberg, and Amreesh Modi also participated in the investment, according to builtinchicago.com. Ohanian is the co-founder of Reddit and Tan is a partner at Y Combinator.
ParkWhiz has been around a little longer than Chicago rival SpotHero. They originally came on the scene in 2006 and in the past 6 years have generated over $10 million in parking revenue to operators. They also have access to over 3 million parking spaces.
One of ParkWhiz’ major success stories is the partnerships they’ve formed with organizations that are key in the big event space. ParkWhiz is partnered with StubHub, Ticketsnow, several NFL and NCAA teams and other sports and entertainment venues.
“This financing allows us to realize our next stage of growth, beginning with the hiring of 20 additional employees,” said Aashish Dalal, CEO and co-founder of ParkWhiz said in a statement. “The wealth of knowledge and experience of our new board members will help us aggressively deliver unique capabilities to our customers and further solidify our position as the market leader.”
More than 1 million people have used ParkWhiz.com, the largest, fastest growing, online parking reservation company in the U.S. ParkWhiz allows users to compare price, location and amenities. Drivers may reserve special event parking and purchase discounted downtown parking at up to 80% off drive-up rates. The company works with over 2,000 parking lots nationwide, giving customers access to over 3 million parking spaces. ParkWhiz’s national footprint has enabled them to provide parking spot inventory that far exceeds their closest competition.
Joining co-founder Aashish Dalal on the company’s board will be Ira Weiss of Hyde Park Venture Partners and Henry J. Feinberg, former partner at Technology Crossover Ventures, the world’s largest technology oriented Venture Capital firm. Mr. Feinberg is currently the Chairman of Maxim Revenue Management Solutions.
“ParkWhiz offers a transformational service for finding optimal automobile parking,” said Henry J. Feinberg. “ParkWhiz will change how consumers and parking lot owners and operators do business similar to how Expedia changed travel, Netflix changed entertainment and Zillow changed real estate.”
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