Spatial lands $2M and a deal with Ford to accelerate social intelligence technology
Investment will accelerate deployment of socially-intelligent maps.
Detroit — Dec 5, 2016 — Spatial, a social intelligence startup, today announced that it has closed $2 million in seed funding. Serra Ventures led the round, joined by Connetic ventures, M25 group, Fulcrum and Caerus Investment Partners.
Spatial’s mission is to empower people to navigate like a local, anywhere in the world. Using artificial intelligence, Spatial converts social data into meaningful information built specifically to power maps and location queries. The company will use the seed investment to accelerate product development and deployment with a number of leading automotive, travel, and real estate companies.In 2016, Spatial was one of 12 companies selected to participate in the Techstars Mobility Accelerator program. The company announced a deal with Ford at Demo Day. Spatial was also named Fortune Magazine’s Top 10 Automotive Startups of 2016 and was featured in Inman news as a top Real Estate innovation.
“Serra Ventures is thrilled to partner with the Spatial team. Billions of people interact with maps across multiple devices every day. Bringing social context to maps using Spatial’s patent pending technology will improve map usability in many industries including travel, real estate and automotive. “- Said Rob Schultz, Director at Serra Ventures.
About Spatial
Spatial’s artificial intelligence software aggregates unstructured social data across hundreds of cities in real time. It is an example of the innovation that happens when you cross human and machine disciplines. Lyden Foust (CEO) is an ethnographic urban researcher and Will Kiessling (CTO) a jet engine software engineer from GE. Both world travelers, they saw an opportunity to leverage the invisible layer of behavioral information pouring out of cities, and together built a software that can handle the mass amount of unstructured data from over 30 sources using human-driven, machine-assisted analysis.
“Today’s on-demand world requires a totally new map.” Said Lyden Foust. “Before digital maps people spent hours searching an atlas to get from point A to B. Today we spend hours researching online to answer what an area is like. Spatial powers companies to answer these location questions in seconds. Socially powered maps are the next logical step. We are honored to work with companies like Ford and our investor team to pave the way for a world of real-time Spatial awareness.”
