Zencity Secures $40m to Accelerate AI To Build Trust in Local Government

Funding Will Power Advancement of AI Assistant, Investment in Engineering and Data Science

Zencity Will Further Transform how Governments Build Trust & Engage Public in Hundreds of Cities, Counties around US and the World

NEW YORK – Zencity, the leading community engagement platform for local governments that counts 8 in 10 of America’s largest cities among its customers, today announced a $40m in Series C investment led by StepStone Group, with participation from existing investors TLV Partners. This brings the total raised by the company to $91 million, and represents a meaningful increase in valuation from its previous fundraise.

“Zencity is already used to support essential functions in cities from New York to Los Angeles and everywhere in between, and we see a significant opportunity for Zencity to consolidate this fragmented market by delivering next-generation, AI-powered tools that will likely displace legacy solutions over the years to come.”Post this

The new capital will be invested in advancing Zencity’s artificial intelligence capabilities, including key hires in engineering and data science, and in enhanced customer service for Zencity’s local government partners on four continents.

Zencity’s impact comes on the heels of a decades-long decline in public trust in government, and a recognition that building public trust requires that state and local governments continually engage the public, gathering community input on matters large and small. Zencity’s success has been driven by being an accessible and effective solution for city, county and agency teams seeking to broaden their understanding of the views of the public, bring those insights into their day-to-day work, and communicate back-and-forth with the communities they serve.

The company has long been a leader in government AI use cases and was recognized by CB Insights as one of the “100 most promising private AI companies in the world” in 2022. As the company continues to execute on its commitment to responsible use of AI in the public sector, it has also today launched the “Zencity AI Assistant” – a tool that drastically reduces the effort and time governments spend gathering and understanding community input. The new Zencity AI Assistant will:

Create new engagement projects, survey questions, suggest images, create landing pages, and automatically translate them into dozens of languages for maximum accessibility.
Serve as an analyst and answer questions instantly about data in plain language, cross-referencing from multiple sources including surveys and social media, dramatically improving the ability to quickly draw insights.
Create charts and reports, and provide written and visual context for leaders, enabling the seamless integration of community input in decision-making meetings and other workflows.

This tool is now available in a closed beta to select Zencity customers, and will be generally available this summer, and the company is working on several other exciting releases in engagement in data analysis over the coming months.

“Zencity’s mission is to build trust between local governments and the communities that they serve. Our new partnership with StepStone will enable us to set the standard for this important mission through investment in technology, people, and most of all – in our partners,” said Eyal Feder-Levy, CEO, Zencity. “AI-powered capabilities, like the one we’re launching today, put best-in-class technology in the hands of local government leaders that will accelerate that goal, by lowering barriers to seeking community input, and more easily making sense of data we will drive outcomes for the communities that our government partners serve.”

“We believe Zencity could be the category leader in public engagement for the massive government market,” said John Avirett, Partner at StepStone Group. “Zencity is already used to support essential functions in cities from New York to Los Angeles and everywhere in between, and we see a significant opportunity for Zencity to consolidate this fragmented market by delivering next-generation, AI-powered tools that will likely displace legacy solutions over the years to come.”

The company recently added the City of New York, Dallas, the Los Angeles Police Department, and the London Metropolitan Police (UK) as customers, as well as its first national government agency, the United Kingdom Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. The company today serves cities, counties and agencies in over 40 US states, and covers a global footprint of over 200 million people.

About Zencity

Zencity is a government technology company with the leading platform for community trust, purpose-built for government. By putting comprehensive community input tools, sophisticated analytics, and expert support at their fingertips, Zencity empowers government and public safety leaders with the data to make more informed decisions that earn residents’ trust. More than 300 government agencies use Zencity every day, from Los Angeles, Chicago, and Harris County, TX, to Greensboro, NC, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, and Colorado Springs, CO. Zencity, founded in 2016, is headquartered in New York City and Tel Aviv.