AUSTIN, TEXAS, Nov. 13, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, the co-founders of RideScout announced the RideScout Student Veteran Entrepreneurship Endowment, a fund seeded by Joseph Kopser and Craig Cummings at the sale of their company to car2go North America in September 2014. Funds generated by the $70,000 endowment provides initial investment to student veterans at the University of Texas at Austin interested in starting their own companies.
"The sale of RideScout to one of the largest mobility and automobile manufacturers in the world is a testament to how veterans can succeed when presented with a mission," said Joseph Kopser, Co-Founder and CEO of RideScout. "Veterans are like any other entrepreneur--driven, passionate, and inspired. The only difference is that many have had no private sector experience before launching their company. We plan to help them make the transition to entrepreneurship a little bit easier."
RideScout is a company founded by two Army veterans and graduates of the West Point Class of 1993.
"The RideScout Endowment enables us to pay it forward and invest in more veterans to help them launch companies and new lives," said Craig Cummings, RideScout Co-Founder and COO. "Veterans spent their military career defending the American dream of free enterprise, now let's help them participate in it."
The RideScout Endowment's first release of funds will go towards the James D. Pippin Veteran Entrepreneurship Award, a prize in the Texas Venture Labs (TVL) Investment Competition. The Pippin Award will be awarded to the most promising startup in TVL with one or more veteran co-founders.
"Helping the Austin entrepreneurial community is central to TVL's mission and we're always excited when our alumni choose to give back to the community and to help support that mission," said Dr. Rob Adams, Director of Jon Brumley Texas Venture Labs. "We're thrilled to have the Pippen Award to offer to the many veteran entrepreneurs who work with our organization to start their businesses."
The announcement was made during the Second Annual Defense Energy Summit in Austin.
About RideScout
RideScout is a technology platform that aggregates public, private and social rideshare on its free iOS and Android apps, allowing people to search and compare ground transportation options on demand and in real time. RideScout shows users transit, taxi, ride share, car share, bike share, carpool, walking, biking, driving and parking in one view, with real-time transit arrivals and traffic integration. The company is based in Austin, Texas with satellite offices in Washington, DC, San Francisco and Chicago. RideScout is a subsidiary of car2go North America, a brand of moovel GmbH. Please visit www.ridescout.com for more information.
About car2go North America
car2go North America, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Daimler and a brand of moovel GmbH, offers an innovative mobility solution in rapidly growing urban areas via a carsharing network of eco-friendly smart fortwo vehicles around the world. A flexible and "on demand" mode of transportation, car2go complements existing public transportation by bridging the gaps between the "first and last mile" of a member's commute. Today, car2go has more than 900,000 registered members in 30 cities with access to over 12,000 interconnected vehicles around the world.
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