Public Sector Communities Specialist Zencity Gets $30m

Civic engagement tech provider Zencity has secured $30m in funds, which it says will allow it to 'double down' on product development and pursue its dream of 'allowing governments to 'run' on community input data'.

Founded four years ago, the company aims to help government agencies 'of all types and sizes' to bring their communities' voices into their decision-making. It now employs more than 100 people across four countries, having added the UK and Australia in the past year.

Zencity recently rolled out a new community insights and analytics platform combining 'organic discourse' from online channels like social media, with data from representative surveys; and it has added benchmarking options and greatly enhanced its support team of policy experts and data analysts. In March, it acquired analytics and community polling company Elucd for an undisclosed sum.

The new funding was led entirely by existing investors, which include Salesforce Ventures and with participation from Microsoft's venture fund M12. In a statement, CEO and co-founder Eyal Feder-Levy said over the next few years the firm would look to realise its 'ultimate vision allowing governments to 'run' on community input data' - requiring feedback from 'all voices in the community on an ongoing basis' as well as giving local government orgs at every level the tools to analyze that feedback effortlessly.

Tel Aviv, Israel- and New York-based Zencity is online at www.zencity.com .