Paren, an EV data platform startup, raises capital from Base10 Partners

Paren Inc., a software platform powering electric mobility with unified data insights, today announced that it has raised $3M in its first round of financing. The round was led by Base10 Partners. Founders Network Fund and Luc Vincent (founder, Google Street View and Lyft 5) also participated in the round. Paren will use the capital to scale its current data platform and build new services on top of it.

Paren was founded in 2023 with the goal of accelerating the adoption of electric vehicles by enabling a seamless driving experience. The company, after acquiring EVSession, LLC in March 2024 and experiencing accelerated growth, recently completed an additional acquisition of EVAdoption LLC, an EV infrastructure data and analysis firm. Loren McDonald, EVAdoption’s founder and a trusted industry expert joins the executive team as Chief Evangelist.

Paren estimates that 100 million public fast charging sessions will occur in the U.S. in 2024 and expects over 1 billion charging sessions by 2030 at which time a projected 7.5% of vehicles in operation will be battery powered. Access to rich data sets, including EV charging station reliability, is key to realizing this expansion. As a neutral platform, Paren synthesizes fragmented data across the ecosystem into a unified model, addressing the limitations of closed-loop systems, and enabling more powerful applications to be built on top of its dataset. Paren’s reliability analysis has been validated by a recent charger health study (source).

“We are thrilled to have the support of Base10 and our other investors as we address the foundational aspects of the EV charging infrastructure with unified data insights”, said Florent Breton, CEO and Co-Founder of Paren. “With the continued momentum at Paren alongside the acquisition of EVAdoption, we welcome Loren as one of the most well-regarded experts in the industry.”.

“Based on our lengthy EV driving experience, we know that charging on the public network requires seamless access to availability, reliability, pricing, amenities, and safety data,” noted Bill Ferro, CTO and Co-Founder of Paren. “Our solutions are designed to empower automakers, map makers, fleet operators, and other enterprise customers to elevate the driver experience. Combining with EVAdoption’s data will broaden our platform and allow for more robust product offerings.”

This investment will allow Paren to grow its team, expand data sets, and scale its platform to meet the demand of enterprise partners. Notably, Paren is expanding its API access to reliability, plus augmenting its data sets around amenities, pricing, and safety to be seamlessly available to drivers using the national EV infrastructure.

“Paren’s data offers unique insights into the EV charging industry that continue to unlock key business opportunities for us,” said Brandon Stritch, CEO of StritchCo, a Charge Point Operator based in Florida and Paren Customer. “We look forward to benefiting from their expanded data sets and services to help us drive future revenue growth.”

“Charging anxiety is one of the biggest blockers to EV adoption, and much of that is the result of charger reliability. This is a huge problem today that is only getting more acute as EV adoption and production goals uptick,” noted Rexhi Dollaku, General Partner at Base10 Partners. “The team at Paren has deep industry expertise, familiarity with this point, and understanding/collaboration with the key market stakeholders. Paren has created a platform that we believe is uniquely positioned to solve the charger anxiety crisis.”

About Paren
Founded by Florent Breton (CEO) and Bill Ferro (CTO), Paren Inc is based out of San Francisco, Ca. Acting as a neutral platform, Paren aggregates, enriches, and serves the most comprehensive data on the essential aspects of EV charging. Its data is accessible via an online application or API Gateway.

About Base10 Partners
Founded by Adeyemi Ajao and TJ Nahigian, Base10 is a San Francisco-based venture capital fund investing in founders who believe purpose is key to profits and in companies that are automating sectors of the Real Economy.

HungryPanda, the world’s leading overseas Asian food delivery platform, today announced the successful completion of a $55 million refinancing and fundraise. The round was led by Mars Growth Capital, a JV between Liquidity Group and MUFG,with continued support from HungryPanda’s existing investors, including Perwyn, Kinnevik, 83North, and Felix. This new funding will enable HungryPanda to solidify its leadership in the Asian food delivery market and explore new opportunities to serve a broader range of minority ethnic communities, particularly in North America.

Founded in 2017, HungryPanda has established itself as a global leader in Asian food delivery, operating in over 80 cities across 10 countries, serving more than 6.5 million users in partnership with over 100,000 merchants. In 2021, the company raised $130 million in Series D to expand into new markets and explore mergers and acquisitions. To date, HungryPanda has raised over $275 million in funding and has entered a new phase of business growth. In 2024, HungryPanda achieved profitability while maintaining an annual growth rate of over 30%—a remarkable achievement in the competitive food delivery industry.

“Reaching profitability while maintaining significant growth demonstrates the strength of our business model and our long-term vision. This success is a testament to the dedication and hard work of our entire team,” said Eric Liu, Founder and CEO of HungryPanda. “HungryPanda is more than just a delivery platform—we see ourselves as an ambassador of Asian cuisine. With this new funding, we are poised to accelerate our expansion into North America, elevate our services, and continue to champion the richness of Asian food culture on a global scale. We are especially grateful for the support from Mars Growth Capital and Liquidity Group, whose partnership will help us achieve our ambitious goals.”

“I am proud of how HungryPanda has positioned itself uniquely within the food delivery sector by focusing on the specific needs of Asian communities globally,” said David Buttress, Chairman of the Board at HungryPanda. “Our targeted approach and deep understanding of this market have been key drivers of our growth and success. “As we continue to scale, I am confident we will further solidify our leadership in this space and capitalize on new opportunities.”

The new funding will enable HungryPanda to continue meeting the growing demand for Asian food and groceries, while upholding the high service standards its customers expect. In addition, HungryPanda remains committed to supporting its delivery riders by setting industry-leading standards for safety and offering sustainable gig work opportunities.

“HungryPanda has been able to carve out an impressive niche in the highly-competitive food delivery vertical, and as a result, has experienced double-digit growth while continuing to strengthen its position as a market leader,” said Paul Brodie, Managing Director, Europe at Mars Growth Capital and Liquidity Group. “We are excited to be part of HungryPanda’s next chapter along with its existing investors.”

About HungryPanda
Founded in 2017, HungryPanda is currently the largest overseas Asian food delivery platform and the only food delivery platform to rank in Deloitte’s 2021 UK Technology Fast 50. Starting in Nottingham, U.K., HungryPanda has expanded to more than 80 cities in 10 countries: the U.K., France, Italy, the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and Singapore. Currently, HungryPanda works with over 80,000 riders, 100,000 merchants and serves over 6 million users worldwide. This year, HungryPanda sets sights on $1 billion in gross transaction volume.

About MARS Growth Capital
MARS Growth Capital, a joint venture between MUFG and Liquidity Group, provides advanced financing solutions to fintech, SaaS, and e-commerce businesses in Southeast Asia, the Pacific, and Europe. Utilizing Liquidity Group’s AI and machine learning, MARS offers credit and equity financing ranging from $3 million to $100 million for mid-market, late-stage, and pre-IPO technology companies.

About Liquidity Group
Liquidity Group is the leading AI-driven financial asset management firm in the world. With multi-billions across funds focused on North America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East, Liquidity Group operates globally with offices in Abu Dhabi, New York, London, Tel Aviv and Singapore. The firm’s patented decision science technology enables it to deploy more capital through more deals much faster than other firms in the capital markets industry, establishing it as the fastest-growing provider of credit and equity financing to mid-market and late-stage companies. Liquidity Group is backed by leading global financial institutions including Japan’s largest bank, MUFG, Spark Capital, Apollo Asset Management and others.

Austin, TX – September 18, 2024, 9:00am EST – Knit, the platform dedicated to streamlining the consumer research process using AI, today announced the closing of a $9 million funding round and partnerships with brands like T-Mobile, NASCAR, the WNBA, Mars Wrigley, Overtime, and JBL. The round was led by Revolutions’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, with participation from new investors Osage Venture Partners, GFT Ventures, Visible Ventures, and Massive Ventures and existing investors Silicon Road Ventures, Felton Group, and Alumni Ventures. 

Knit enables insights professionals and researchers to conduct agency-quality research  in days, not weeks, marrying quantitative and qualitative data in the same survey for comprehensive, thorough insights. In the past year, Knit has onboarded more than 30 enterprise brands and grown its annual recurring revenue 5X. The team has used the funds to launch its latest offering: Report-Ready Insights, which helps researchers run agency-quality quantitative and qualitative research at DIY costs, by taking the most time-intensive research tasks off their plate through Researcher-Driven AI.

“At Knit, our goal has always been to make researchers’ jobs easier,” says Aneesh Dhawan, Co-Founder and CEO of Knit. “We’re excited about Report-Ready Insights because it does just that – allowing our customers to go from business questions to stakeholder-ready top line reports in days, without compromising speed, cost, or quality. It’s ultimately changing the way research is done.”  

Through Knit, a researcher’s expertise and institutional knowledge are the engine, and Knit’s AI is the navigator, optimizing the research process so it’s faster, more customizable, and more focused on what matters most. 

“The market is filled with ‘off-the-shelf’ AI analysis tools, which often lead to generic outputs, forcing the researcher to spend time, money, and manual efforts converting data to stakeholder reports. What we are doing is different.” says Raahish Kalaria, Co-Founder and CTO of Knit. “Knit is taking a unique approach to AI – one that begins with the human researcher.”

“We’re excited to continue to back Knit as they redefine the landscape of consumer insights,” says David Hall, Managing Partner, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund. “We’ve been impressed by Knit’s rapid adoption among leading brands. Their innovative approach to AI-assisted research clearly resonates, and we’re excited to support their continued momentum as they launch Report-Ready Insights.”

“We’re inspired to see Knit pushing the boundaries of consumer insights with their researcher-driven AI,” says Ross Kimbel, Managing Director and Partner at Silicon Road Ventures. “The team’s ability to quickly partner with top brands and deliver insights is a testament to their deep customer and market understanding. We’re proud to back them as they continue to shape the future of the insights industry with their launch of Report-Ready Insights.”

“Knit is changing the game on how brands gather, assess and act on consumer insights with remarkable speed and precision,” says Sean Dowling, Managing Partner at Osage Venture Partners (OVP), who joined Knit’s Board of Directors upon OVP’s investment. “Their unique AI-driven platform stands out in a crowded market of solutions. Their growth reflects the real value they’re delivering, and we’re excited to be part of their journey as they continue to innovate in this space.”

Knit recently presented alongside Mars Wrigley  at the Corporate Research Conference (CRC) on customer research innovations in New York on September 16-17, 2024. The team will also present with T-Mobile at  The Market Research Event (TMRE) on October 8, 2024.

ABOUT KNIT

Knit is the end-to-end, AI-native platform automating the consumer research process. Founded in 2021, Knit believes AI has the power to democratize rigorous, agency-level research across enterprise organizations – enabling brands to make better and more data-backed decisions for their customers.