Urban Engines launches to tap big data to solve big city problems

Urban Engines, startup that applies spatial analytics and behavioral economics to solving the problems of big city living like transit, launched out of stealth mode today. The Los Altos-based company was founded by Stanford engineering and computer science professor Balaji Prabhakar, Deepak Merugu, former Google VP and Distinguished Entrepreneur Shiva Shivakumar, and Giao Nguyen, a former principal engineer at Google. Its initial Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering is built for cities to utilize rider data from transit systems to better manage traffic through consumer engagement and incentives.

The team has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Google Ventures, Eric Schmidt, Ram Shriram, Andreessen Horowitz and SV Angel.