Transportation mobile payments company Passport is starting 2018 with an extra $43 million in the bank. The North Carolina-based company closed the Series C round– an investment that brings Passport’s total capital to $60 million– just before the holidays.
Today’s investment comes from Bain Capital, which joins previous investors Grotech Ventures, MK Capital and Relevance Capital. Bob Youakim, Passport’s founder and CEO, said that he sees the Bain Capital team as partners who “align really well with both our vision and our culture.”
In the press release, the company notes it will use the funding to evaluate strategic acquisition opportunities and bolster sales and marketing efforts. Youakim also said the investment, “gives us additional resources to expand quickly and strategically into new markets, innovate rapidly, and support our clients around the world.”
Proving its readiness for expansion, the company has already achieved notable growth. In the past three years, Passport has experienced 3.5x revenue growth and has expanded its staff to 100 employees in the past year with plans to add 50 more employees in 2018.
Founded in 2010, Passport offers mobile payment solutions for parking, transit, and tolling. To date, the company’s solutions have been adopted by more than 450 agencies in over 5,000 locations worldwide, including Chicago, London, Toronto, Boston, Vancouver, Portland, Montreal, and Miami. At FinovateEurope 2016, the company demoed its Mobile Ticketing for Transit solution. Last month, the company partnered with TransLink to develop and launch Park&Go, a free mobile payment app for Park & Ride users in Metro Vancouver.
