Public transit app Moovit raises $50 million in round led by Intel

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Public transit app Moovit said on Wednesday it raised $50 million in an investment round led by Intel Capital, bringing its total raised to date to $133 million.

All Moovit’s earlier investors participated, including Sequoia Capital, BMW iVentures, NGP, Ashton Kutcher’s Sound Ventures, BRM, Gemini, Vaizra, Vintage and newcomer Hanaco.

Israel-based Moovit’s free app provides transit information to more than 120 million users in 80 countries.

Amnon Shashua, senior vice president of Intel Corp and CEO of Israeli autonomous vehicle technology firm Mobileye, will join Moovit’s board as an observer.

Moovit co-founder and CEO Nir Erez said the company will use the funds to expand its global sales team and enhance its consumer products to support user growth.

“Moovit expects to surpass 1 billion users by 2021 and to expand significantly the number of cities that use Moovit’s data analytics to improve urban mobility,” Erez said, adding that the company plans to collaborate with Mobileye, which was acquired last year by Intel for $15.3 billion.

Shashua said the combination of Mobileye’s and Moovit’s technology and data “will be instrumental in making cities ready for autonomous vehicles.”