Where VC money is going in Connected Transportation

In our tracking of the connected car and connected transportation space, we’ve collected a lot of data on which categories of startups have received the most venture funding. The chart below shows a breakdown of that funding:

There is a clear front runner in the “Ride Hailing and Scheduling” category, which should come as no surprise since that group includes Uber and Lyft, with their $1.5B and $333M in funding, respectively.

After that, we see the second tier of “Auto Fleet Management” and “Automotive Telematics”. These categories include some relatively older companies which have experienced some exits, such as Sascar being bought for $602M and the Cobra acquisition for $197M. What’s interesting to me is the relatively strong growth of new startups who are also entering the space. Using simple technology such as standard On-Board Diagnostic ports and cellular communications, these small players are reinventing the approach taken by older players using expensive, proprietary “black box” solutions.

The rest of the categories look relatively low and flat against the leaders, but don’t let that fool you. The “Car Sharing” category, on it’s own, is comparable to all the funding that has gone into every bitcoin company to date.

All in all, I think that there are a huge amount of opportunities ripe for investment in this space.