Ocra

About Ocra

Ocra originated from the firsthand operational challenges faced by its founders, Ethan Glass and Nate Dunning. In 2019, while soccer teammates at Occidental College, they started a venture to day-lease parking spaces for events near the L.A. Coliseum. Initially, they boosted revenue by listing inventory on third-party reservation channels, but the manual effort required to manage rates and availability across multiple platforms proved labor-intensive. This experience became the catalyst for developing their own software to centralize these functions.

The company, initially named ParkPlace, officially pivoted from event parking operations to a B2B SaaS model in May 2020. The name "Ocra" was adopted in September 2021, derived from an early internal tool called "One-Click Rate Adjustment". This name change reflected the company's expanded mission to solve technology fragmentation within the parking industry. The founders validated their business concept by engaging with over 3,000 parking professionals, confirming a widespread need for an integrated management system.

Ocra provides a centralized management platform for the parking industry, serving clients such as parking operators, asset owners, property managers, and hotels. The company's business model is primarily subscription-based SaaS, offering its full suite of tools or à la carte features. Its core product is a cloud-based software that allows operators to manage inventory, pricing, and availability across numerous consumer-facing parking apps and websites—like SpotHero and ParkWhiz—from a single dashboard. Key features include universal inventory pooling to prevent overselling, dynamic rate management, blackout controls, and consolidated reporting. Ocra also offers Ocra CoPilot, a managed service where its team uses internal data and expertise to optimize revenue for asset owners.

By desiloing data and standardizing how different technologies communicate, Ocra enables its partners to maximize yield and operational efficiency. The platform is designed to be agnostic, integrating with various technologies to create a connected ecosystem. The company has demonstrated significant financial traction, raising approximately $10 million in funding to date, including a $5 million round in July 2025. For one hotel partner, MCR, Ocra generated $3.4 million in gross sales and $2.5 million in incremental net operating income in 2023.