SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 20, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zendrive, a mission-driven company making roads safer with data and analytics, today announced it has raised $37 million in Series B funding, led by XL Innovate with participation by Hearst Ventures and existing investors, including ACME Capital, BMW iVentures, NYCA, SignalFire, and others. With this funding, Zendrive will continue to build out its mobile driving safety solution and grow its team across five continents to deepen its focus on the global insurance market.
“Zendrive was founded to make roads safe with data and analytics. As we enter this next phase of the business, we are excited to continue to push the innovation curve forward and align with partners who are similarly committed to improving driving behavior using technology and incentives,” said Zendrive CEO & Co-founder, Jonathan Matus.
Parallel to the financing, Zendrive is announcing the launch of FullStop, the first and only mobile-powered risk solution for stop sign violations designed for the InsureTech industry. Leveraging the extraordinary level of resolution made possible by Zendrive’s broad data coverage, FullStop offers predictive capabilities not achievable with traditional telematics factors like speeding and aggressive acceleration, showing that drivers who violate at least one stop sign per month are up to 5.8x more likely to crash and have higher rates of T-bone and head-on collisions.
“No one ever imagined that smartphone sensors could detect stop sign violations without dedicated hardware like dash-mounted cameras. Zendrive’s data science capabilities are pushing the envelope from what’s conceivable to what’s now currently possible,” says Tom Hutton, who led the round at XL Innovate, serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors at SoFi, and has many years of operating experience in the insurance industry, including serving as CEO of Risk Management Solutions. Hutton has joined the Zendrive Board and is helping the company to pursue relationships throughout the insurance industry.
FullStop is available for select partners using Zendrive’s RiskReveal, the award-winning suite of smartphone-based solutions for insurers, which brings the power of AI to underwriting, loss control, and claims processing.
Zendrive has amassed the world’s largest driving data set, analyzing over 180 billion miles to date. Powered by this extensive and unmatched data, the company’s AI-enabled solution is capable of generating risk models that are 6 times more predictive than existing industry standards. Zendrive has already uncovered a dangerous distracted driving epidemic that’s 100 times worse than what regulators see. Using insights like these, global auto insurers using Zendrive are operating at industry-leading loss ratios.
“The increasing adoption of data and analytics is a trend that is shaping the future of insurance,” says Sandy Weill, who joined both the investment round and Zendrive’s Board of Advisors. He is former Chairman of Citigroup and was the CEO of American Express’s insurance arm, Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company. “The Zendrive team is focused on delivering value to insurance companies, platform providers and ultimately consumers. Large global auto insurers using Zendrive to power digital transformation report to the company improvements in loss ratios, which could lead to better pricing and safer roads for everyone. I am excited to be part of this revolution in the industry.”
Zendrive will continue to grow its portfolio of solutions to build the most comprehensive driving safety platform and make the world’s roads safer.
“We are excited to partner with this group of investors who have unmatched expertise building the most successful companies in the world in fleets, insurance, and financial services,” Matus said.
About Zendrive
Zendrive works to make roads safer with data and analytics. Winner of Frost & Sullivan’s 2019 Innovation Technology Award and powered by the world's largest data set of more than 180 billion mobile driving miles, Zendrive uses AI and machine learning to improve driver safety and help insurers accelerate their digital transformation. World-class insurers rely on Zendrive to price risk in real-time, dramatically improving their combined ratios with cutting-edge offerings. Zendrive’s patented algorithms and precise insights help reduce collision risk by 49%, adding millions in revenue to industry-leading partners including Juno, Grupo Sura, and AXA XL. Zendrive was recognized as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies of 2018 and won the 2017 Best Startup in San Francisco award.
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