Idelic, Pittsburgh, Pa., closed on an $8 million Series A financing round led by Origin Ventures, Chicago, with participation from TDF Ventures, Chevy Chase, Md.; Birchmere Ventures, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Bain Capital Ventures, Palo Alto, Calif.; and SaaS Venture Capital, Bethesda, Md. In conjunction with the financing, Scott Stern, vice president of Origin Ventures, and Matt Bressler, principal of TDF Ventures, joined the company's board of directors.
"Origin Ventures is proud to announce our investment in Idelic's veteran team and industry-leading technology," says Stern. "Improving safety, compliance and risk management in the transportation industry has been Idelic's core mission since the technology was developed at Pitt Ohio Express over a decade ago. These trucking insiders have the technological know-how, industry savvy and management skills to build a scalable business and push the transportation industry's status quo into a more compliant, less risky and safer future."
Idelic's Safety Suite is said to be the most comprehensive safety and risk management platform in transportation. This software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution integrates all fleet systems into a single data management platform, giving fleet managers unparalleled visibility into driver behavior and safety operations.
"The ability for fleets to understand the vast amount of data surrounding their drivers is no longer impossible – it's now become a necessity for all fleets, regardless of size," says Hayden Cardiff, chief executive officer of Idelic. "For many fleets, driver turnover surpasses 100% annually, at a cost topping $12K per driver. Driver retention is a major issue for our industry, and insurance companies now base their rates on a fleet's ability to mitigate driver risk. By better understanding driver behavior and creating a culture of safety, managers can better retain drivers while significantly boosting their fleets' bottom lines."
"Our office is minutes away from one of the top computer science schools in the world, allowing us to recruit from among the best students and graduates who want to make a real impact without having to move across the country. Pittsburgh has evolved into a premier technology innovation hub, providing recent graduates the ability to work on some of the world's most challenging problems, all with a significantly lower cost of living," says Nick Bartel, chief operating officer of Idelic.
Idelic will use this investment to grow its engineering and sales teams and release a mobile application focused geared for driver engagement and retention.
"We have a dedicated team of data scientists hyper-focused on improving the Safety Suite's artificial intelligence, machine learning and predictive analytics models that help safety teams be proactive in preventing accidents, violations, citations and injuries. And, we're actively hiring to contribute to these efforts. The world is changing, and we're designing our technology to change with it," says Cardiff. "Imagining a world without accidents isn't so implausible anymore, and we want to lead the charge to create that safer tomorrow."
