Irish-founded Wayleadr raises €3.7m to fund global expansion

Irish-founded start-up Wayleadr has raised $4 million (€3.7 million) in funding to help fund its growth in the global market, connecting smart buildings and smart vehicles to help curb carbon emissions.

The funding round was led by Third Prime ventures and will be used to further develop new technology to remove the guesswork in the last mile of any journey, working alongside its machine-learning algorithm.

Founded in Ireland, the New York-headquartered company provides last-mile automation solutions that bridge the gap between smart vehicles and smart cities, streamlining commuter journey requirements, saving time for businesses and workers, and reducing car dependency, congestion and emissions.

The software as a service (SaaS) start-up plans to expand its footprint in the US market by the end of the year. It currently has clients in more than 21 countries, with eBay, Sanofi, L'Oréal, CBRE and WeWork on the list.

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"The world is an unpredictable place, with many forces outside of our control. Last-mile automation can empower us with a sense of ease when moving from point A to B," said Wayleadr chief executive Garret Flower. "At Wayleadr, we use software to help people get to their destinations with less stress and uncertainty while en route working with landlords and large enterprise companies. By making journeys easier, Wayleadr gives people the most valuable commodity back in their lives: time."

Research by Deloitte shows the average American spends 17 hours per year searching for parking, costing $345 per driver in wasted time, fuel and emissions.

Third Prime ventures specialises in supporting next generation proptech companies. Its previous investments include Latch, which provides access control and building software.

"With simple integrations to existing workflows, Wayleadr elegantly addresses the collective pain of building owners, operators and tenants when it comes to parking allocation and optimisation while providing novel opportunities for monetisation and revenue sharing," said Keith Hamlin, founding partner at Third Prime.

“As we head toward a world of autonomous and shared vehicles, we believe Wayleadr will be well positioned to further optimise these spaces and provide even greater value and convenience for its constituents.”