FLASH is more than just a software system for parking garages.
The company sees its cloud-based platform as the “connective layer that transforms parking assets into multi-purpose mobility hubs where parking, charging, transportation and logistics intersect with a smart city ecosystem.”
FLASH announced Wednesday that it surpassed a $1 billion valuation following a $250 million strategic investment led by Vista Equity Partners. L Catterton and other previous investors joined the round. The company last raised $60 million in early 2020.
The Austin-based company has more than 600 employees, including 90 in its Chicago office. The company plans to hire more than 200 employees this year, with an emphasis on engineering, support, customer success, sales and field operations.
FLASH, which launched in 2011, is the largest cloud-native parking technology platform, according to the company. Its technology is used at more than 10,000 locations across all major U.S. cities and Canada. The platform serves 11 million parkers per month, generating more than $1 billion in annual transactions.
The company developed the industry’s first mobility hub operating system with its cloud-based platform that provides parking lot owners and operators with real-time parking availability, variable pricing options and insight into the supply-and-demand of parking spaces.
FLASH is also innovating with electric vehicle charging stations, autonomous vehicle staging and an AI-based camera system that can count cars and identify license plates.
The company told Built In in an emailed statement that parking should be a more intentional experience, guided by wayfinding integrations and orchestrated through a seamless reservation-based experience.
“When FLASH was founded, the parking industry was poised for transformation and digital mobility platforms were nascent,” FLASH CEO Dan Sharplin said in a statement. “We are rapidly future-proofing urban mobility infrastructure by providing an agile, cloud-based, mobile-first platform for the myriad opportunities facing cities, citizens, asset owners, utilities and parking operators.”
