Jonathan Simkin is the co-founder and CEO at Swiftly, a company that develops enterprise software that helps transit agencies and cities improve urban mobility.
Education
Jonathan Simkin graduated as cum laude and with departmental honours in Engineering from Harvey Mudd College in 2010. During his college days, Simkin was a member of the Associated Students of Harvey Mudd College, Kairos National Entrepreneurial Society, Mudder Investment Fund, Food Committee, and Roller Hockey Club. During his spare time, Simkin loves playing hockey, working out, cooking and running around with his favourite dog, Zorro.
Early career
In 2004, Simkin worked as a researcher at UCSD, National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research. Simkin used volume segmentation and electron tomography to create computer models and movies that were used to examine the three-dimensional organization of the axonal cytoskeleton in nodal regions. The same year Simkin resigned from the company.
In 2006, Simkin worked as tournament services staff member at Promotion Sports, Inc. Simkin worked during both the 2006 and 2007 tournaments. He was one of the five employees conducting the state of the art media center, responsible for assisting and organizing the major sponsors, and ensuring that all personnel and players received first-class treatment. Simkin only served in the company for a year.
In 2008, Simkin became an engineering intern at Tapioca Mobile. He was responsible for assisting the engineering department with video encoding automation. He also wrote AviSynth and FFmpeg scripts to edit and process videos for mobile phones and used Final Cut Pro for advanced editing of videos. After a few months, Simkin left the company.
In 2009, Simkin work at Advisors Asset Management, Inc. as an asset management intern. He assisted the sales team with portfolio analysis, Bloomberg quotes, and database management. Simkin created a sophisticated excel document that automatically generates client portfolio analytics through Bloomberg’s Excel API commands. Simkin discovered and discussed profitable bond opportunities with the sales team.
In 2010, Simkin co-founded HubEdu, Inc., along with Kevin King as CTO and Benjamin Carson as COO. He served as the CEO of the company. The founders developed kayak for textbooks, a price comparison engine that automated textbook purchases for students based on their course schedule. SwoopThat became one of the largest aggregators of course information in the country, with 2.43 million unique courses and covering 14.2 million students.
The company also received numerous awards, including AOL Patch 30 Under 30 San Diego County Leaders, Winner of San Diego Venture Group 2011 Pitchfest, San Diego Most Innovative New Product Awards in Software Finalist, San Diego Tech Coast Angels 2011 Quick Pitch Finalist, Winner of the Kravis Concept Plan Competition at the Drucker School of Management.
In 2012, Edtech startup Rafter acquired HubEdu to further lower the cost of higher education for an undisclosed amount. Despite the acquisition, Simkin remained the CEO of the company. During his leadership, Simkin created a software platform to reinvent the way college bookstores manage their supply chain, pricing, and eCommerce systems. Simkin developed strategic relationships with influential industry technology leaders. Simkin left the company in 2012.
In 2012, Simkin served as a senior product manager at Rafter, Inc. He was responsible for developing products to help make education more affordable by improving the technology that powers campus bookstores. He became the product director in 2014, and in a few months, he left the company to build his company.
Swiftly
In 2014, Simkin co-founded Swiftly, along with Mike Smith as CIO and Will Dayton as CTO. Swiftly assists cities to move by transforming mobility and transportation through real-time information and better data. Simkin is Swiftly’s CEO. Established by transportation specialists for transportation professionals, the platform provides billions of data points and algorithms to enhance service reliability, transportation system performance, and real-time passenger information.
Funding
In July 2014, Swiftly raised $550,000 in a seed funding from investors, including Vinny Lingham, Smokey Investments LP, Raju Indukuri, Michael Leeman, Mehdi Maghsoodnia, Boost VC, and Bobby Brannigan. In January 2016, Swiftly received an additional of $250,000, and another $100,000 from Zipdragon Ventures, and Plug and Play in August 2016. In May 2017, Swiftly earned $2.5 million in a venture series funding, led by Via ID with existing investors including Zipdragon Ventures, Vinny Lingham, Plug and Play, and Michael Leeman. Other investors like Samsung NEXT, RATP Dev, Polaris Partners, Jonathan Smith, and Ford Smart Mobility also joined in this round.
In January 2018, Swiftly raised $1.1 million in a seed round, led by Via ID with existing investors, including Samsung NEXT and RATP Dev. In June 2019, Swiftly raised $10 million in a Series A funding round, led by Via ID, Aster Capital, Wind Capital, and Renewal Funds, to grow its software-as-a-service business for cities’ transportation agencies. Other existing investors include Samsung NEXT, Renewal Funds, RATP Dev, and Plug and Play. Other investors, including StartX (Stanford-StartX Fund), Keval Desai, Total Energy Ventures, 1776, and Elemental Excelerator, also participated in this round.
Swiftly has raised a total of $14.5 million in its six funding rounds, and $2 million in estimated revenue annually. The company competes with Pegasystems, Citilabs, Inc., and Newgen Software Technologies.
Swiftly now runs with more than 55 city transit networks , including MDOT MTA in Baltimore, MBTA in Boston, Capital Metro in Austin, VIA Metropolitan Transit in San Antonio, and VTA in Silicon Valley. The company is also making the same scalable technologies to smaller cities, including every public transit agency across the state of Vermont, Napa Valley, Lake Tahoe, Lincoln County, and more.