Real-time traffic tracker Traffline raises Series B funding from Qualcomm Ventures

Mumbai-based traffic monitoring solutions startup Birds Eye Systems Pvt Ltd, which operates under the brand Traffline, has secured an undisclosed amount in funding from Qualcomm Ventures. The funds will be used for product development, marketing & user acquisition, multi-city expansion and scaling the team.

"By applying wireless and location technologies, Traffline provides innovative solutions to address current challenges in the transportation segment. We look forward to working closely with the team at Traffline and Matrix Partners to rapidly address the pan-India opportunity," said Varsha Tagare, director of Qualcomm Ventures.

Last December, the firm had received an undisclosed sum in its Series A funding from Matrix Partners.

Birds Eye Systems was founded by Briraj Vaghani and Ravi Khemani in March 2009. Its flagship product Traffline is a low-cost, real-time traffic monitoring system that broadcasts live traffic conditions for road commuters. Currently, the company provides real-time traffic information across six cities—Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad.

According to the company, its products are already being used by several hundred thousand users. Its product is built on a platform that continuously analyses live vehicle movements and displays results on Traffline.com. The results are available in a text format on m.traffline.com (suitable for mobile phones) and mobile apps, while you get them in both text and map formats on the web.

In July last year, the company had launched a paid on-demand subscription service for traffic updates. The service costs Rs 549 and Rs 849, for email and SMS alerts respectively, and provides users with traffic updates for an entire year.

For accessing the service, users need to first select a start and end location, post which they can decide a particular time when they want to receive the update. Once that is done, they start receiving updates depending on the subscription they have selected.

The firm had also earlier secured two rounds of funding. In April 2012, it bagged Rs 2 crore in angel funding from Indian Angel Network. The firm had also received Rs 15 lakh from IIM Ahmedabad's tech incubator CIIE.