In a recent announcement, Momenta Partners has confirmed that it’s closed a seed investment in Soofa, a MIT (News - Alert) spinoff startup company creating connected smart city information solutions, including the Soofa Bench, Soofa Sign, and Soofa Pro. The company joins Momenta Partners’ Connected Industry Ventures portfolio.
Soofa designs, develops, and operates smart city infrastructure. Soofa Pro is a sensor platform for data analysis and insights to improve public spaces, with applications including monitoring street level activity, event attendance or pedestrian traffic in multiple locations across a community. The solar-powered Soofa Bench charges phones and monitors its environment. Launched in Boston in 2014, the Soofa Bench is now in 23 states, five countries, and 65 cities. The solar-powered Soofa Sign communicates information in real time for smart parks and bus stops.
“Soofa is led by a dynamic CEO and a well-rounded team, and we believe we can add significant value to their growth,” said Dweep Chanana, Principal Partner, Ventures, Momenta Partners. “Their strong technology heritage from the MIT Media Lab and early traction position them well to capitalize on the large and evolving smart city market opportunity.”
Soofa is in the middle of a $2.5 million funding round, and has said the money will mainly go toward hiring and investing in the company’s products. The new round, for which the company recently filed disclosures with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC (News - Alert)), reportedly was led by Underscore VC and Pillar, which are two Boston-area venture capital firms. Some of the other investors include Accomplice, which has preciously also made investments into Soofa, and a group of private individuals. Up until now, the company has reported raising a total of $3.35 million in equity funding.