Felt (GIS company)
| Felt Maps Inc. | |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 2021 |
| Repository | github |
| Type | Geographic information system |
| Website | www |
Felt is a web-based geographic information system (GIS) platform, headquartered in Oakland, CA. Felt operates as a freemium software as a service (SaaS) platform.[1]
History
Felt was founded in March 2021 by Sam Hashemi and Can Duruk.[2]Before becoming CEO at Felt, Sam worked as a designer for the Department of Energy, NASA,[3] and as CEO of Remix, an transportation planning platform that helped cities design bike lanes, bus routes, and safer streets. Remix was acquired by Via Transportation in 2021 for $100 million.[4] Felt raised a total of $34 million from investors: $4.5 million in seed funding, [5] , $15 million in a Series A funding round[2] and an additional $15 million funding round led by Energize Capital.[1]
Reception and industry recognition
Felt has been recognized as one of the top 100 geospatial companies.[6] The platform has been recognized for its AI capabilities and Fast Company highlighted Felt's accessibility for creating maps without requiring advanced technical expertise. [7]
Philanthropy
Felt provides free access to its mapping software for educational use.[8] Felt sponsors the development of Tippecanoe, an open-source tool for building vector tilesets from large collections of GeoJSON, FlatGeobuf, or CSV features,[9][10] and is a Flagship-level Sustaining Membership with QGIS.[11]
References
- ^ a b Kanetkar, Riddhi. "This startup just raised $15 million to create custom maps with AI for monitoring wildfire and flood risks". Business Insider. Retrieved 2025-10-02.
- ^ a b Mascarenhas, Natasha (2022-05-31). "Felt's chance to prove that maps are the next big medium". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025-10-02.
- ^ Kraetzig, Nikita Marwaha (2023-12-07). "Explore the unexplored with Felt: Meet Sam Hashemi, CEO of the online platform making mapping effortless for everyone". Geoawesome. Retrieved 2025-10-02.
- ^ Sylvers, Eric (2021-03-10). "Transportation Startup Via Makes $100 Million Bet on Mapping Company". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2025-10-02.
- ^ Mascarenhas, Natasha (2021-08-10). "Felt raised $4.5 million to get you to 'think in maps'". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025-10-02.
- ^ Kumar, Muthu (2025-01-31). "Global Top 100 Geospatial Companies - 2025 Edition". Geoawesome. Retrieved 2025-10-02.
- ^ "This easy-to-use tool will let you make a map of anything". Fast Company. 2023-11-13. Archived from the original on 2024-01-18. Retrieved 2025-10-02.
- ^ "Felt | Education". felt.com. Retrieved 2025-11-26.
- ^ Fischer, Erica (2023). Faster, easier, more powerful map tile creation with Tippecanoe 2.0. Open Source Geospatial Foundation (OSGeo). Retrieved 2025-10-02.
- ^ felt/tippecanoe, Felt, 2025-09-30, retrieved 2025-10-02
- ^ underdark (2024-05-30). "Felt renews their Flagship-level Sustaining Membership". QGIS.org blog. Retrieved 2025-10-02.