The Routing Company, a technology startup founded by 27-year-old Menno van der Zee from the Netherlands and MIT researcher Alex Wallar with a mission to make public transportation as efficient as possible worldwide, announced it has raised $15 million in its series A funding round, led by Galvanize Climate Solutions. The company, which has developed unrivaled technology that makes it possible to continuously adapt bus routes to today’s transport demands, is preparing for further international expansion.

Services like Uber and Uber Pool and Lyft have proven the convenience of Mobility-as-a-Service and ride-sharing. But when on-demand providers offer passenger convenience, it only puts more cars on the road. Shared on-demand travel, on the other hand, is sustainable, but involves inefficient routes and long waiting and travel times. Then there are also the countless buses that run on a fixed schedule, regardless of whether there is demand at that time. To many, the image of a bus with few or no passengers is familiar.

The Routing Company offers a golden means: technology for shared buses ordered on demand through the app, where the most optimal route is continuously driven, adapted to the current demand. Founders Menno van der Zee (27) and Alex Wallar (27) together with professors and researchers from TU Delft and MIT developed advanced technology based on algorithms that connect passenger demand with available vehicles at unrivaled speeds. It’s not easy; with only one vehicle and five passengers, there are already about 113,400 possible routes. The system is updated every 15 seconds, so the most optimal route is selected every time. The result is 80% fewer vehicles on the road, carrying as many passengers as possible in the shortest possible time. With this, The Routing Company offers not only solutions for urban areas, but also for rural areas where optimal public transport capacity is not utilized.

“Usually, when something is designed in a more sustainable way, ease of use is compromised. At The Routing Company we choose ‘both-and’. Our focus is on providing solutions for the most efficient public transportation on a global scale and thereby having a positive impact on passengers, society and the environment,” said The Routing Company co-founder, Menno van der Zee.

Having started various pilots and projects a year and a half ago, Routing Company is now active in several regions of America, UK and Europe and its technology has realized more than 80,000 trips. With a proven measurable impact on passenger comfort and the environment, now is the time to scale international and expand the team. To this end, the company has raised $15 million in a series A financing round, led by Galvanize Climate Solutions. This brings the total amount of financing raised in the last two years to over $21 million.

About Routing Company

The Routing Company was founded in 2019 by Menno van der Zee from the Netherlands (27) and Alex Wallar (27). In collaboration with various researchers and professors from TU Delft and MIT, he developed advanced technologies for shared public transport on demand. The company’s algorithms can match passengers with available vehicles at unrivaled speeds and thus constantly determine the most optimal route. As a result, as many passengers as possible can be transported in as few vehicles as possible, while waiting and travel time is not sacrificed. The Routing Company aspires to regulate public transportation around the world as efficiently as possible, along with transport providers and cities, for a positive impact on travelers, society and sustainability. The company now operates in multiple territories in the Americas, UK and Europe and employs 27 people with James Cox (formerly responsible for launching UberPOOL in 41 cities and Chief Product Officer at Canoo) as CEO, Dick Alexander (formerly EVP and interim CEO of Transdev Americas). North) as Head of Business Development, and Bradford Church (former UberBus leader) as VP of Products.