Launch and $40m for Community Platform Zencity

US-based local government community engagement platform Zencity has secured $40m in a Series C round of funding, for use in boosting its AI capabilities with key hires in engineering and data science, and to enhance customer service. It also launched an AI Assistant.

Founded in 2016 and headquartered in New York City and Tel Aviv, Zencity provides community feedback tools, analytics and expert support for government and public safety leaders. Recent new clients include the City of New York, the Los Angeles Police Department and the London Metropolitan Police. The firm says existing tools are limited to engaging the 'STPs' - the 'Same Ten People' who 'always participate and get overcounted, while other voices are not heard'. Its platform was built specifically 'to leverage digital technology's ability to be proactively inclusive'.

The new Zencity AI Assistant, now available in closed beta to select customers, promises to drastically reduce the effort and time governments spend gathering and understanding community input. The tool will create survey questions and infrastructure for new engagement projects, with automatic translation into dozens of languages; answer questions about data instantly in plain language, cross-referencing from multiple sources including surveys and social media; create charts and reports, and provide written and visual context for leaders, allowing users to seamlessly integrate community input in decision-making meetings and other workflows.

The investment round was led by StepStone Group, with participation from existing investors TLV Partners, and with former rounds brings the total raised to date to $91m. CEO Eyal Feder-Levy (pictured) comments: '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. 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'.

Web site: www.zencity.io .