Leading Global Automotive Brands Invest $21M in Urgent.ly's Fast Growing Mobility and Roadside Assistance Services

VIENNA, Va., Jan. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Urgent.ly, the leading global mobility and roadside assistance platform, today announced it has raised $21 million in new Series B funding, reflecting the rapid evolution and increasing complexity of transportation and mobility. BMW i Ventures; InMotion Ventures, Jaguar Land Rover's venture capital fund; and Porsche Ventures participated in the round with support from current investors. The funding round was oversubscribed.

Global automotive and new mobility companies are increasingly designing and marketing more transportation options with varying tasks, sizes and complexity. This level of innovation will render traditional roadside assistance obsolete, evolving into mobility assistance that can service today's vehicles as well as fleets of the future that will include electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles, micro-mobility vehicles, drones, robotic delivery and more.

"The old model of roadside assistance must make way for a modern, more digital approach," said Kasper Sage, Partner, BMW i Ventures. "Urgent.ly will allow OEMs around the world to provide their customers the kind of real-time and connected digital experience they now expect in everything from food delivery to ride-sharing. Urgent.ly enables unparalleled transparency connecting dealerships, OEMs, providers and customers in real time, with actionable data-driven insights to optimize the experience along every step of the way."

"We fundamentally believe that OEMs need to work more closely together to create the foundations for an improved, technology-enabled customer experience, and fully harness the fantastic entrepreneurial energy that is driving the digital transformation of our industry," said Sebastian Peck, Managing Director, InMotion Ventures. "For Jaguar Land Rover to invest, alongside other established automotive manufacturers, into a business like Urgent.ly that is making great strides to transform the roadside assistance industry to deliver a better customer experience, is a completely logical step for us."

"Urgent.ly is an innovative platform solution which impresses with its speed and transparency. It is also internationally scalable. We are convinced that it can help increase customer satisfaction levels in critical situations," says Kilian Sauerwald, Director Aftersales Region and Market Development at Porsche. "The team at Urgent.ly sets itself apart due to its well founded expertise within the customer and technology business. This is why we chose a strategic investment."

Separately, BMW Group has also recently selected Urgent.ly to work together with the BMW ConnectedDrive Customer Interaction Center (BMW Assist) as the vendor partner to provide roadside assistance and extended mobility services to owners of all four of its brands in the U.S.: BMW, BMW Motorrad, MINI and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.

Mike Hernandez, Manager for BMW Roadside Assistance and Mobility Services added, "We are extremely pleased to provide BMW, BMW Motorrad, MINI and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars customers in the U.S. exclusively with Urgent.ly services. Urgent.ly's innovative and flexible modular platform allows us to realize our vision for a completely transparent and integrated roadside assistance experience for BMW drivers and riders. The team at Urgent.ly understands the expectations of our customers and have demonstrated the ability to tailor programs and features in their software.

This provides the ability to offer unique services using BMW Servicemobile operated by our authorized dealers or, when needed, a highly-vetted, brand-specific network of the best towers and transportation professionals in the industry."

"We are truly gratified by the support of our investors, including some of the world's top global automotive brands, as we work to define the future of mobility and roadside assistance and deliver the experience customers demand and deserve," said Chris Spanos, CEO and co-founder of Urgent.ly. "We look forward to continuing to innovate our connected services across the rapidly evolving global automotive, insurance and mobility markets, where we have consistently driven increases in customer satisfaction over the legacy analog models that have defined the industry for the past 70 years."

American Tire Distributors (ATD), the largest tire distributor in North America, is a current investor in Urgent.ly excited by the company's scale and technology, resulting in industry leading customer service scores. ATD has been a leader in the transformation of the replacement tire industry by bringing innovation and new capabilities like Urgent.ly to its customer base. Ryan Marsh, Chief Growth and Innovation Officer at ATD said, "ATD is thrilled to partner with Urgent.ly. The industry- leading OEMs' investments in their Series B offering reinforce our belief that Urgent.ly's unique, digitally-enabled business model to modernize the roadside assistance experience is going to help ATD continue to bring new capabilities to our customers as we drive traffic to their business and enhance their operations."

For details on how Urgent.ly is redefining mobility and roadside assistance, visit https://www.geturgently.com/. You may also download Urgent.ly's whitepaper "BREAKDOWN SHAKEUP: Reimagining Roadside Assistance in the Era of New Mobility" here.

About Urgent.ly
Urgent.ly's Global Mobility and Roadside Assistance Platform sits at the center of expanding transportation options for consumers, logistics and technology companies. Analysts are projecting travel miles to increase by one third globally by 2030, from new services, vehicles and uses. This means more things moving and more things breaking down. Urgently delivers help through a seamless, end-to-end digital platform, viewable by every stakeholder in real time. This is why Urgent.ly is the first choice of leading global brands trusted by millions of consumers across automotive, insurance, telematics and new technology transportation companies in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. For more information, visit http://www.geturgently.com or contact [email protected].

About BMW i Ventures
BMW i Ventures, BMW's EUR 500 Mio million venture capital fund, invests money and resources in startups in the fields of autonomous driving, digital car and automotive cloud, e-mobility, artificial Intelligence and data, industry 4.0, shared and on-demand mobility, customer digital life, and energy services. The firm has already partnered with innovative companies such as Carbon3D, Chargepoint, Claroty, DesktopMetal, Fair, Graphcore, Lime, Mapillary, Moovit, Nauto, and Xometry. BMW i Ventures invests in all stages from seed to growth companies.

About Jaguar Land Rover
Jaguar Land Rover is the UK's largest automotive manufacturer, built around two iconic British car brands: Land Rover, the world's leading manufacturer of premium all-wheel-drive vehicles; and Jaguar, one of the world's premier luxury sports saloon and sports car marques. At Jaguar Land Rover, we are driven by a desire to deliver class-leading vehicles, which will provide experiences our customers will love, for life. Our products are in demand around the globe. In 2018 Jaguar Land Rover sold 592,708 vehicles in 128 countries. We support around 260,000 people through our retailer network, suppliers and local businesses. At heart we are a British company, with two major design and engineering sites, three vehicle manufacturing facilities and an engine manufacturing centre in the UK. We also have plants in China, Brazil, India, Austria and Slovakia. Our innovation is continuous: we will spend in the region of £4 billion this year on new product creation and capital expenditure. From 2020 all new Jaguar Land Rover vehicles will be electrified, giving our customers even more choice. We will introduce a portfolio of electrified products across our model range, embracing fully electric, plug-in hybrid and mild hybrid vehicles as well as continuing to offer the latest diesel and petrol engines. Follow Jaguar Land Rover at
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jlr_news?lang=en @JLR_News and
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaguarlandroverofficial/ @jaguarlandroverofficial

About Porsche Ventures
Porsche Ventures seeks for strategic investments in business models relating to the customer experience, mobility and digital lifestyle, as well as in future technologies such as artificial intelligence, blockchain and virtual and augmented reality. Through its venture capital activities, the sports car manufacturer Porsche invests in new companies that are in the early and growth phases. Amongst the latest investments there have been the Berlin-based start-up Gapless that allows customers to digitally manage their vintage vehicles and the fast-growing technology company WayRay. This Zurich-based start-up develops and produces holographic augmented reality head-up display technologies and is working on the ability to seamlessly integrate virtual objects into the driving experience. As a strategic investor, Porsche also holds shares in start-ups Anagog, Miles and home-iX, as well as technology and sports car company Rimac.

About American Tire Distributors
American Tire Distributors is one of the largest independent suppliers of tires to the replacement tire market. It operates more than 140 distribution centers, including 25 distribution centers in Canada, serving approximately 80,000 customers across the U.S. and Canada. The Company offers an unsurpassed breadth and depth of inventory, frequent delivery and value-added services to tire and automotive service customers. American Tire Distributors employs approximately 5,000 associates across its distribution center network, including approximately 800 associates in Canada.

Media Contact:
Victoria Brown for Urgent.ly
[email protected]

SOURCE Urgent.ly

Related Links

https://www.geturgently.com