Smart city builder Rekor Systems announced its intentions to acquire Israeli startup Waycare for $61 million in cash and stock. The acquisition is expected to be finalized in Q3 2021, with the Israeli startup’s staff expected to join Rekor Systems.
Both identify components, but for different purposes
The Waycare SaaS platform aggregates data from various resources, such vehicles, highway cameras, sensors, past events, weather conditions, and current events in the area; processes the data, and provides insight into optimizing traffic management and commuter safety. The system identifies potential points for accidents, alerting authorities to adjust resources accordingly. The company says it can identify traffic jams and accidents in real-time, even claiming to know of them prior to the initial 911 call.
The buyer, Rekor, is a public company that uses AI, among other things, to identify license plates and vehicles and enables, for example, stores and drive-through stations to identify their customers, and allow them to pay without using cash or credit, while also managing customer traffic. In addition, it enables managers and supervisors to receive real-time information, give employees and visitors access to sites and identify anomalies on site. In the slightly more controversial arena, the company also offers services to police and state agencies, enabling the identification and tracking of wanted vehicles, but also the identification of dangerous driving patterns and the flow of vehicle traffic - and this is where the fairly clear connection to Waycare's technology comes into play.
“With the Waycare acquisition, we are significantly strengthening our footprint and meaningfully enhancing our service offering. This acquisition accelerates access to new markets and provides us with new vendor relationships to access unique data sources,” said Rekor CEO Robert Berman. "Waycare is a rare asset as it already has an established and growing customer base, favorable relationships with third-party data providers that would take years to replicate and a highly talented management team. Waycare's existing team will be joining the Rekor family and Waycare will be fully integrated into Rekor,"
"We are very excited about the opportunity to become a part of Rekor Systems," added Noam Maital, CEO and co-founder of Waycare. "Both companies were on an incredible journey building the infrastructure for smart cities which will benefit generations to come. By joining Rekor, we now have access to real-time roadway optical sensors, innovative software and enhanced data. Rekor is uniquely positioned to become a leading force in data aggregation and analysis for roadway intelligence. As a team, we are looking forward to deploying our technologies and data to improve the quality of life for citizens and governments throughout the globe."
Waycare was founded in 2016 by CIO Shai Suzan, CTO Idan Hahn, and Noam Maital. The company has offices in Israel and the U.S., and according to Pitchbook, has raised $10 million over 5 years. Among Waycare’s investors, we find Spider Capital, SJF Ventures, and Innogy SE.
