Wednesday, May 20, 2026

How Metropolis built a $5 billion AI infrastructure company out of America’s parking problem

Alex Israel knows where autonomous vehicles go to sleep at night.

Israel is the CEO of Metropolis, an AI computer vision infrastructure company that processes $5 billion in annual payments volume, controls more than 4,200 locations across the country, and employs 23,000 people. The parking payment (now AI recognition services) company was born in 2018 to solve the parking payment problem. “It’s boring, it’s riddled with friction, and it’s an experience that we just thought could never get better,” Israel told me.

The pitch he’s making now is something he calls the “recognition economy”—a computer vision layer (the ability of a camera to “see” and understand what it’s looking at—not just capture an image) that sits between people and physical infrastructure—parking garages, fueling stations, hotel lobbies, retail floors—and learns who you are the moment you show up. No ticket. No tap. No wallet. Just presence. “It’s about being recognized everywhere you go,” Israel said. 

While you may have never heard of Metropolis, the numbers are hard to ignore. In 2024, Metropolis completed the take-private of SP+, the largest U.S. parking network operator, for $1.5 billion—the largest venture-backed M&A deal of that year. In January 2025, it acquired Oosto, an Israeli AI biometrics firm, for $125 million. That November, the company closed a $1.6 billion round—$1.1 billion of it a Term Loan B arranged by J.P. Morgan, with a $500 million Series D led by LionTree—valuing Metropolis at roughly $5 billion. And in December 2025, it announced a partnership with Joby Aviation to build out 25 vertiports across the U.S.—turning parking structures into launchpads for air taxis, and spaces where autonomous vehicles can go to park, charge, get cleaned and be redeployed. (Blade, Joby’s urban air mobility subsidiary, is already using Metropolis’s Bags VIP service at JFK and Newark.) 

Metropolis’ thesis, Israel said, is infrastructure: “How do you connect old world infrastructure with next-generation mobility?”

It’s a compelling frame. It also comes with complications. Earlier this year, Metropolis settled with the Tennessee AG for $8.75 million over allegations of deceptive pricing and surprise fees. The company, in 2024, also faced a federal class action under the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act over how it accesses motor vehicle records to issue parking notices. Israel told me he considers the Tennessee matter tied to legacy operations and some of the legacy acquisitions that Metropolis made over the years.

“As I think about the future and moving past the sins of previous acquisitions, I’m hyper-focused on how you build that balance of driving convenience, privacy, and trust for consumers,” he said. According to Israel, that means exploring how privacy is owned by the consumer, where they would and would not like to be recognized, rather than scaling back on biometrics. 

Metropolis’ cap table runs from early-stage venture—including UP Partners and Slow Ventures—through Vista, Silver Lake, and Dragoneer, all the way to private equity stalwarts BDT, MSD, and Eldridge. Israel describes it as a “growth buyout,” a structure he claims Metropolis pioneered: marry an AI business to an old-world operator, capture venture upside while PE infrastructure absorbs the downside. “You create something that is rarely seen by the market,” he said. 

The company hopes to cross 30 million platform members (registered users on the company’s network) by the end of this year. Israel describes Metropolis as “a very EBITDA, very free cash-flow positive company”—and when asked about an IPO, he didn’t flinch. “It would be wonderful,” he said. “This idea that you take something like an idea in a garage with co-founders and take it all the way to IPO is a dream.”

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