Zendrive Brings Together Mobile Technology and Big Data to Make the On-Demand Economy Safer

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Nov 25, 2014) - Zendrive, a company that seeks to make driving better for everyone through improved data and analytics, today announces the launch of its first service, ZenFleets. The company also announces today that it has closed a strategic round of funding led by investors BMW i Ventures, Bill Ford's VC firm Fontinalis Partners, Expansion Capital and First Round Capital. 

"The ZenFleets service helps the On-Demand driving economy -- including the fast growing rideshare, carshare and last-mile delivery companies -- scale safely and efficiently through driver-centric analytics," said Jonathan Matus, co-founder of Zendrive. 

William Clay Ford, Jr. ("Bill Ford"), a Founding Partner of Fontinalis Partners, added, "When I co-founded Fontinalis with my partners in 2009, we committed to investing in entrepreneurial companies that were driving incredible innovation in next-generation mobility. It was clear then and certainly is clear now that improving access to data and analytics through new technologies will be vital in transforming the mobility ecosystem. We are very excited to add Jonathan and his team at Zendrive to the stable of exciting activity at Fontinalis."

"We've been long time believers in the On-Demand and sharing economy and have made several well-known investments in the space," said Bill Trenchard, partner, First Round Capital. "Ridesharing and other On-Demand services are becoming so widespread and complex that we need analytics layers like Zendrive to enable the next level of innovation and efficiency."

Zendrive interprets data from phone sensors, as well as other contextual data, to determine the driver's caution, control and focus while on the road. Unlike traditional hardware-based solutions, Zendrive is pioneering Driver-Centric Analytics. By focusing on the driver instead of the car, Zendrive can increase driver safety by reducing behaviors like cell phone usage.

ZenFleets is a SaaS bundle that delivers Zendrive's analytics and insights to fleet customers. Once a fleet integrates the Zendrive SDK into their own app -- or they start using the ZenFleet standalone app -- Zendrive analyzes each driver's behavior and surfaces insights through a simple but powerful dashboard.

ZenFleets was developed for the On-Demand driving economy, such as rideshares and carshares. These fleets typically do not own the cars -- drivers change fleets frequently and often work for more than one fleet. Zendrive's technology is fast for these companies to integrate and easily scalable since it utilizes existing smartphones and requires no additional hardware. 

With this new capability to gather insights about driver behaviors, both individually and across a fleet, a number of On-Demand customers and technology partners are using ZenFleets to improve safety and efficiency of their drivers. These include rideshare companies, valet parking and other service providers including RedCap, HopSkipDrive, Dashride, and more.

"Safety is embedded in everything we do and we're constantly looking for the best ways to make our rides the safest in the industry," said Joanna McFarland, founder of HopSkipDrive, a ridesharing company that transports children. "Using ZenFleets helps us deliver on our promise to our parents to get their kids where they need to go safely and reliably."

"As a service whose drivers drive other people's cars, our customers put a great deal of trust in us and want to know that we are properly caring for their vehicles," said David Zwick, co-founder of RedCap, an On-Demand chauffeur service. "By integrating Zendrive's technology, we will have much greater visibility into what's happening on the road during every RedCap trip."

About Zendrive
Founded in 2013 and based in San Francisco, CA, Zendrive makes driving better, safer, and more efficient for everyone through improved data and analytics. Using mobile tech and big data, it brings Driver-Centric Analytics to the On-Demand driving economy. Zendrive's customers include rideshare companies, valet parking and other service providers. Investors include First Round Capital, BMW i Ventures, and Bill Ford's Fontinalis Partners, as well as founders of Yahoo, PayPal, and GenRe re-insurance. For more information about Zendrive, visit www.zendrive.com.