4M Analytics raises additional $30 million to map US subsurface infrastructure
The Israeli startup, which took its Series A to $45 million, has developed a digital repository of comprehensive utility data that helps engineers identify and pinpoint underground utilities early in the project lifecycle
4M Analytics, which develops subsurface infrastructure mapping technology, announced it has raised an additional $30 million in funding, bringing the total raised for its Series A round to $45 million. The funding round was led by global software investor Insight Partners and ITI Venture Capital Partners, with participation from current investors, Viola Ventures and F2 Venture Capital. Also participating in this round were Noam Bardin, former CEO of Waze (acquired by Google), and Nir Erez, the CEO and founder of Moovit (acquired by Mobileye-Intel). The funding will be used to create a map of the United States' subsurface infrastructure and grow its team.
Over the years the subsurface has turned into an enormous maze of utilities, one that was never recorded nor mapped. Every day more and more utilities go into the ground, and without a map, the risk of a utility strike increases creating delayed projects and additional costs. In 2020, there were more than 385,000 unique utility strikes in the U.S. that caused damage to underground utilities.
4M Analytics' mission is to create the map product for underground infrastructure. The company has developed a digital repository of comprehensive utility data that is constantly updated. This will help engineers identify and pinpoint underground utilities early in the project lifecycle, accelerating and optimizing their projects.
"Until now, the construction industry has been forced to plan in the dark, based on incomplete, unreliable, out-of-date utility information, spending months looking through paper records, chasing contacts over the phone, and looking onsite for utilities, one-by-one, and inch-by-inch,” said Itzik Malka, CEO and co-founder of 4M Analytics. “When a project is completed the utility data is often forgotten, requiring that the next project starts from scratch to get the same data. To give professional engineers a baseline of utility data that the different project stakeholders can actually agree on, we collect raw data from hundreds of thousands of sources – from remote sensing and satellite imagery to public records, conflate it together using a variety of self-developed AI capabilities, and verify it using both state of the art computer vision and proprietary mapping techniques."
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The 4M Analytics product, 4Map, compiles all utility data into one dashboard. With this data, customers can view utility data for countless infrastructure projects simultaneously. The mapping resources will decrease the amount of time it takes to locate underground utilities for civil engineering firms, engineering procurement construction firms, contractors, and subsurface utility engineering firms in the transportation, oil and gas, water and electricity, renewable energy, and telecommunications industries.
"I understand what it means to build a map solution that impacts the lives of millions, and I fully believe in the product and vision the founders have for 4M Analytics," said Noam Bardin, former CEO and founder of Waze. "Their use of future-forward technologies and identification of a market in dire need of a digital overhaul has positioned them to be the first mover in this emerging market."
