A local business that has developed an autonomous vehicle individualized transportation system is raising funds to meet demand.
Lancaster-based Swift Rails, which started as an idea around 2014 and incorporated in 2019, recently raised $225,000 in private investments, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The money is part of a larger round, which will be a mixture of private capital and WeFunder crowdsourcing, targeting $1 million. CEO and co-founder Kevin Neumaier expects to close the round by March.
Swift Rails, which employs 10, previously raised hundreds of thousands on WeFunder alone.
“People have asked us to do both,” Neumaier said. “So for people who want to invest from $100 to $10,000, they can do WeFunder and we’re doing private placement for larger than that.”
Funding will go toward getting the business’ individualized transit system to market. The company, based at 340 Pleasant View Drive, Lancaster, was awarded a U.S. patent in September and is in the pre-contract stage with multiple potential customers, hoping to onboard its first customer this year.
Swift Rails’ system is more energy efficient with a lower cost, quicker installation time and takes up less space compared to traditional transit, according to Neumaier.
Project sizes can range from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars.
Neumaier said he’s noticed interest in this type of individualized transit system increasing in recent years. As a large, public example, the City of Atlanta is procuring companies for individualized transit demonstrations, including Swift Rails.
The business plans include installing its transit systems for its customers and then be long-term operators of the systems, which gives the startup recurring revenue streams.
“It was exciting when we first came from idea to making it work, but now it’s a very different feel of the business and we’re ready to take sort of what we think is the next really big step,” Neumaier said.
Swift Rails is the fourteenth local company to acknowledge a private, growth-oriented round of funding this year. The list includes Azuna ($3 million), Immunaeon ($600,000), Latte ($100,000), Aerovec ($178,000), CleanFiber ($6.7 million), HELIXintel ($11 million), CaHill Tech ($250,000), FoodNerd ($1 million), LenderLogix ($500,000), SelectFI ($1.985 million), AireXpert ($3 million), Diadem Capital ($600,000), Arbol ($850,000) and Swift Rails ($225,000).
