4M Analytics
The Google Maps of the underground: a living utility database that proactively maps public and private utilities across the country using AI-powered record digitization and machine learning surface feature detection
www.4manalytics.comProduct Overview
What It Is
4M Analytics proactively collects, digitizes and geotags utility records from regional sources before anyone needs them. Draw a project boundary and you instantly get power, communications, gas, sewer and water line data with metadata such as installation dates, sizes and materials, validated against AI analysis of aerial and street-level imagery.
The Problem It Solves
Current Approach
When performing feasibility studies, pursuing proposals or planning routes, teams are forced into a fragmented and time-consuming workflow. They begin by submitting design tickets where available and often wait days for responses. In parallel they chase down utility owners, many of whom never respond without repeated follow-ups. Information arrives scattered, frequently as paper documents that must be manually digitized. To fill in the gaps, teams search multiple GIS websites and hunt for as-built drawings from various sources. All of that data then has to be compiled and converted into a usable digital format, consuming significant labor hours, and if time and budget permit, which is often not the case, site investigations are conducted to validate the findings. The result is weeks of research, hundreds of labor hours, incomplete information and delayed timelines, all to answer the basic question of what utilities are underground here.
How It Changes
4M proactively collects, digitizes and geotags utility records from regional sources such as state DOTs, city departments and GIS databases before you need them. When you draw a project boundary you instantly receive power, communications, gas, sewer and water line data with metadata including installation dates, sizes and materials. AI-powered aerial and street-level imagery analysis automatically identifies and maps surface features such as manholes, poles, valves and hydrants to validate record accuracy, all delivered in hours instead of weeks.
Area of Focus
Primary users are civil engineering firms, general contractors and EPCs. Secondary users are utility owners, DOTs, municipal and local entities, project owners and land acquisition analysts. It applies across feasibility, pursuit and proposal, route planning, design and construction planning.
Key Features
Instant Multi-Utility Record Access
Pain: Tracking down utility owners, waiting for responses, digitizing paper documents and assembling data from scattered sources consumes weeks per project.
Users draw a project boundary directly on the map and instantly receive a comprehensive view of subsurface and overhead infrastructure, including power lines, communications networks, gas lines, sewer systems and water distribution assets.
AI-Powered Surface Feature Detection
Pain: Record lines can be inaccurate. Relocated utilities, installation variations or outdated as-builts mean the map alone cannot be trusted, and traditional validation requires expensive site surveys.
Machine learning trained to identify surface features from aerial and street-level imagery. On one project it detected and mapped 386 manholes, identified 158 valves with precise locations, catalogued 140 poles, and automatically recognized hydrants, inlets and control boxes. That allows verification of record line accuracy by correlating against visible surface features, identification of utilities not shown in records such as undocumented relocations, distinction between above-ground and underground infrastructure, and validation of whether a line is power or communications based on the equipment on the pole.
Layered Contextual Data
Pain: Utility data is useless without context. You need parcels for easement analysis, topography for grading, floodplains for permitting, and right-of-way boundaries for cost estimation.
The platform automatically includes the critical planning layers, removing the manual searches. Parcels provide property boundaries without going to city databases. Estimated right-of-way is included, which is critical for DOT and municipal projects. Topography provides elevation for design, and floodplain layers identify regulatory constraints.
Utility Routing and Conflict Analysis
Pain: Comparing route alternatives requires manual conflict counting, easement estimation and cost projection, taking days per analysis.
An interactive routing tool with automated comparison. A user draws two alternative water line routes, left side of the street against right, and specifies the utility type and material. The system generates a comparison report showing parcel impacts and the number of properties affected, utility crossings and conflicts with existing infrastructure by type, right-of-way analysis showing the percentage in or out of ROW, easement requirements for parcels needing acquisition, and cost implications with a relative expense comparison.
Flexible Export and Reporting
Pain: Platform data is valuable, but teams need it inside their existing workflows in CAD, GIS and proposals.
Multiple export formats and customization options. Users download KML or Shapefile files, which convert to CAD, access utility owner lists for coordination, and generate project insight reports with key findings formatted for pursuits and proposals. For high-volume clients, custom symbology makes exports match internal standards including colors and line dashes. Reporting allows filtering by utility type, such as showing only power and water intersections, generating conflict matrices, producing easement requirement summaries, and creating visual documentation for stakeholder presentations.
Used By
Target Customer Types
Kimley-Horn
$2.8B revenue, 9,000 employees
“We use 4M in the proposal, design and construction phases. We run a map at every stage to ensure we always have real-time utility information.”
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Woolpert
$650M revenue, 3,000 employees
“Adopting 4M in Woolpert's project workflow isn't just a tech upgrade, it's a commitment to smarter, safer and more cost-effective engineering.”
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Operating Locations
Austin, Texas is the US headquarters, holding around 80 percent of the US team and customer-facing operations. Tel Aviv is the R&D headquarters, covering AI and machine learning development and most mapping operations, with a sales presence in Southern California. 14 of 50 US states are fully mapped, expanding toward full national coverage.
Implementation & Onboarding
Timeline: immediate platform access once subscribed, followed by a one-hour kickoff call with a customer success leader. Training covers how to draw projects, invite teammates and interpret results, and setup is login credentials plus team invitations. Typical KPIs tracked: reduced labor hours on records research, increased win rates on pursuits, more proposals submitted once research stops being the bottleneck, avoided conflicts and change orders, and faster feasibility study turnaround. Measurement: baseline metrics are established at kickoff, performance is tracked at three, six and nine months, and reports document the value delivered so renewal and expansion decisions are data-driven.
Security & Privacy
Integrations
ROI & Value
Quantifiable time savings
Records research drops from 20 to 40 hours per project to 2 to 3 hours. Pursuit preparation goes from days of utility intelligence gathering to hours. Site investigation planning moves from blind surveys to targeted verification, and proposal volume rises once the research bottleneck is removed.
Strategic value
Faster feasibility decisions enable pursuit of more opportunities, better proposals increase win rates, a reputation for thorough due diligence attracts clients, and reduced construction risk improves project margins.
Founding Team
Itzik Malka
CEO and Founder
Itzik leads 4M Analytics, which is building the first comprehensive digital mapping platform for underground infrastructure in the United States. His work focuses on using remote sensing, AI and analytics to produce reliable subsurface utility data that helps owners, engineers and contractors reduce risk, prevent costly delays and improve planning accuracy. Before 4M Analytics he co-founded 4M Defense. He is based in Austin, Texas.
LinkedInFunding
Total Raised
$45M
Stage
Series A
Investors