4M Analytics

4M Analytics is a subsurface infrastructure mapping company founded in 2019 by Itzik Malka (CEO), Yoav Cohen and Nir Cohen (COO). It builds a digital repository of underground utility data — including oil and gas pipelines, fiber optic cables, water and drainage systems, and electricity infrastructure — intended to let engineers identify and locate buried utilities early in a project's lifecycle rather than through manual records searches and on-site location work.

The company's product, 4Map, consolidates utility data into a single dashboard so customers can view data across multiple infrastructure projects simultaneously. 4M states it collects raw data from hundreds of thousands of sources, from remote sensing and satellite imagery to public records, conflates them with internally developed AI, and verifies results using computer vision and proprietary mapping techniques applied by a team of geospatial analysts. The company emphasizes that it does not rely on in-field sensors. Originally based in Tel Aviv, management relocated to Austin, Texas as the company entered the US market; as of mid-2022 it employed about 100 people.

Founding story

CEO and co-founder Itzik Malka served in the Israeli military's "Yahalom" combat engineering unit, working on buried explosives, IEDs and landmines. He first built a venture called 4M Defense, applying multi-source remote sensing and satellite imagery to predict the location of buried landmines and explosive remnants in post-conflict areas. Although the concept was received well when presented to a UN agency in 2019, investors viewed it as too risky and fundraising proved difficult. The team then researched other subsurface problems and identified subsurface utility engineering as a large, fragmented market. In 2019 4M Analytics was founded by Malka, Yoav Cohen — a former head of the Israeli military's geospatial intelligence Unit 9900 — and Nir Cohen, a serial entrepreneur who had co-founded earlier startups with Malka.

Business model

4M Analytics sells access to its utility mapping data product, 4Map, to infrastructure and construction professionals, with data made retrievable online. The company has described a subscription-based approach in which pre-compiled mapping data is available to customers immediately rather than produced project-by-project on request.

Subscription-based online access to 4Map utility mapping data, with the ability to sell already-compiled data to customers on demand.

Traction

As of June 2022 the company reported having mapped the subsurface of the entire state of Texas and employed about 100 people, with 4Map slated to launch in the third quarter of 2022. By September 2022 total capital raised was reported at $45–45.5 million across multiple rounds.

Latest developments

In September 2022 the company announced a $30 million Series A extension, taking the Series A to $45 million, led by Insight Partners and ITI Venture Capital Partners with participation from existing investors Viola Ventures and F2 Venture Capital and angels Noam Bardin and Nir Erez. Proceeds were earmarked for mapping US subsurface infrastructure, expanding into the United States, growing the team and scaling the platform.