Artificial intelligence startup Hayden AI Technologies Inc. today announced it has closed on a bumper $90 million round of growth equity financing to expand the rollout of its comprehensive vision AI platform in some of the U.S.’s largest cities.

Today’s round was led by TPG’s The Rise Fund and saw participation from existing investors including Drawdown Fund and Autotech Ventures.

Hayden AI is an emerging player in the area of “smart city intelligence,” offering a vision AI-powered mobile perception platform that collects geospatial data from a range of sensors and cameras. It does this to gather the intelligence cities need to plan and ensure the smooth running of public transportation systems.

Among its capabilities, it can help to detect and enforce parking violations that might obstruct public transport services or impact on road safety. The startup’s tech platform, which consists of smart cameras, intelligent edge processing and data analytics tools, can be installed on any kind of vehicle and automate tasks like bus lane and bus stop enforcement. At the same time, it offers city planners an “unparalleled” level of insight and situational awareness, helping them to make smarter decisions to ensure they achieve their operational and sustainability goals.

The platforms’ capabilities go beyond enforcing parking and moving violations. They can help city planners to detect and forecast traffic congestion, monitor city assets and optimize public transport networks, helping to ensure safety and improve the quality of service.

Hayden AI founder and Chief Executive Chris Carson said today’s funding will help his company to achieve its goal of becoming an “urban operating system” and helping cities to become more livable for their residents.

The startup says it has already made some inroads toward that goal, emerging to become a market leader in a global smart city market that’s valued at a cool $748 billion per year. To date, its technology has been adopted by city transit agencies such as New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Washington D.C.’s Metro, Los Angeles’ Metro and the East Bay’s Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District.

Since installing Hayden AI’s mobile perception tech, the New York MTA says its buses have improved their speed on enforced routes by 5% on average, with 20% fewer vehicle collisions. In addition, the MTA estimates that automated camera enforcement has resulted in a 5% to 10% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from the vehicles it operates.

Carson said part of the funds from today’s round will be used to explore new applications of Hayden AI’s platform. In addition, it also wants to explore more partnerships with other smart city technology providers, such as the one with Verra Mobility Corp. that was also announced today.

Hayden AI explained that it’s working to integrate Verra Mobility’s safety and mobility event-processing technology with its mobile perception platform to help city transportation agencies deliver safer and more reliable services to the public. The aim of the partnership is to improve community transit value with increased ridership rates, reduced exhaust pollution and a safer environment for cyclists and pedestrians.

Steve Ellis, a managing partner of TPG’s The Rise Fund, said he thinks Hayden AI is onto something because large cities have a mandate to increase the operational performance and safety of their public transit systems, while increasing sustainability. He believes Hayden AI’s tech is able to help them achieve all of those goals.

“Hayden AI’s proprietary technology offers a solution that sits at the intersection of accessibility, safety and sustainability and is well-aligned with The Rise Fund’s pursuit of rapidly growing businesses that deliver social and environmental impact at scale,” he said.

Photo: Hayden AI