It’s no secret that data is the hot new revenue source for automakers, who are seeing additional profit opportunities bloom as vehicles become more connected and they can retrieve a ton of useful data that’s incredibly valuable when deployed correctly. Israeli startup otonomo has been on top of that trend since its founding in 2015, with nine automakers worldwide using its platform to feed a marketplace that connects car makers and drivers with service providers, optimizing the monetization of that data.
Otonomo just raised a new $25 million Series B funding round, provided by strategic investors and led by leading automotive supplier Delphi. The round also included participation from existing investors, including Bessemer Venture Partners, StageOne Ventures and Maniv Mobility, and will be used to help otonomo accelerate the pace of its global expansion plans.
The company now has $40 million in total funding, including investment from leading VCs and former vice-chairman of GM Steve Girsky. The company’s ability to land funding and partners, including Daimler, the only one of its nine automaker clients it can reveal publicly right now, is down to the growing appetite for driving data, according to otonomo CEO and co-founder Ben Volkow.
“There are more and more connected cars out there, and those connected cars are sending a lot of data in the background all the time to big databases the car manufacturers have built,” Volkow explained. “They send the data between every minute to every three or four minutes depending on the model, and also when you start the car, when you park the car or when you have an event.”
All this data is valuable to car makers, for their own use…