Photo credit: Flickr user MapBox

In 2012 MapBox won $575,000 in Knight News Challenge: Data to create new tools for OpenStreetMap, the free, editable map of the world. The grant recognized the potential of the project to improve community information and connections by using open data and open sources. Below, Eric Gundersen, CEO of MapBox, writes about a new round of major funding for the company, which provides developers with a customizable mapping platform. 

MapBox just closed a $10 million Series A round with Foundry Group, a Boulder-based venture capital firm that concentrates on investing in early-stage startups. Now we grow.

Related Links 

“Google Maps Open-Source Challenge MapBox Raises $10M From Foundry Group” in The Wall Street Journal

“Our Investment in MapBox” from the Foundry Group

This round is squarely focused on bringing more amazing people to our team in both San Francisco and D.C. We are going to win with this team.

And now we have real runway. For three years, we’ve been completely bootstrapped, which meant we had only a few months of capital in the bank at any time. Now that’s changed: Combined with our rapidly growing user base, this funding lets us plan for years of building the future of geo software, from the ground up.

We’ve made significant contributions to the field by both using and building open source tools. Our work helps you find restaurants on Foursquare, search for hotels on Hipmunk and catch a ride with Uber. Early adopters of our MapBox platform have included the Federal Communications Commission, the U.S. Department of Education and even the White House. This latest news shows that the exchange of ideas in an open forum does not limit a company’s ability to scale its work and to grow.

Foundry Group is the perfect partner: They get big data, understand our platform play, see how open source and open data are our comparative advantage. Most importantly, they believe in our long-term business plans to break open this space and stay independent. We’re just getting started, and we’re excited to have the right partners next to us.

To our early adopters, strategic partners, open source contributors, and those who have taken MapBox to places we never expected, get ready for an awesome ride.

A version of this post also appears on the MapBox website.