Not Quite a Unicorn: Intel Buys Moovit for $0.9 Billion

Looking towards the future when people order cabs sans drivers, giant chip-maker Intel purchased wildly popular transportation-planning app Moovit for almost, but not quite $1 billion. Just a measly $100 million short of a unicorn’s price-tag.

Kidding aside, $900 million is a nice haul for the Israeli-based app that has revolutionized public transportation and

Moovit is seen as an essential piece in the multi-faceted puzzle of driverless transportation of the future: one more element Intel will need to become an essential part of an autonomous driving revolution futurists see as not only inevitable but imminently upon us.

Developed about 8 years ago in Israel, Moovit takes data from public transportation systems, ride-hailing services, and other transport services, and aggregates it all for their more than 800 million users so they can plan the fastest, most convenient, and least expensive ways of getting where they want to go.

You may remember that Intel purchased another major player needed for autonomous transportation. In 2017 the chipmaker bought Israeli company Mobileye for $15 billion, a self-driving car feature that “sees” around the car’s environment. Revenue for Mobileye has exploded from $210 million in 2017 to $879 million in 2019.

“Intel’s purpose is to create world-changing technology that enriches the lives of every person on earth,” said CEO Bob Swan.

About James Cannon

James Cannon is an experienced hedge fund analyst. He has served on the advisory boards for various different Fortune 500 companies as well as serving as an adjunct professor of finance. James Cannon has written for a variety of Financial Magazines both on and off line. Contact James at james[at]businessdistrict.com