Startup Transit raises US$5M in venture capital

Montreal-based Transit, which makes an app aimed at helping people navigate cities without their own car, has raised US$5 million in venture capital, it said on Tuesday morning.

The round was led by Californiabased Accel. Also participating were the BDC, Montreal-based Real Ventures and Massachusettsbased Accomplice.

The company plans to use the money to improve its service for people using more than one form of transportation during a single trip and to improve its real-time data on things like bus arrival times, said Jake Sion, Transit’s COO.

Originally launched in 2012, Transit initially focused on giving bus riders more accurate information on when buses would actually arrive.

It does that by crowdsourcing data from users and, in some cities, by getting data directly from transit authorities. The app can also gather information on things like service disruptions directly from users and pass that along to others, Sion said.

Transit is currently available in 135 cities, mostly in North America, he said.

Increasingly, though, the company has expanded its focus to other services, like bike sharing. In 10 cities, including Montreal, Toronto and Chicago, users can unlock and pay for a Bixi, or its local equivalent, using the app.

It has also added integrations with Uber and Car2Go, among others.