Last week Driveway Software, a Silicon Valley startup that provides smartphone-based telematics solutions, announced that it raised $10 million in a funding round led by Ervington Investments, a property of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.
A smartphone-deployed telematics platform designed to reward safe driving, Driveway aims to “disrupt the insurance industry.” Its iOS and Android app, paired with cloud analytics, automatically and objectively scores driver behavior. For insurance companies, the platform yields increased profits by attracting safer drivers who are segmented and priced more efficiently based on individually measured risk profiles. For consumers, the platform offers transparent, personalized pricing and actionable suggestions.
“Since we launched five years ago, our smartphone app, Drivewise.ly, has collected over 500 million miles and rewarded more than 250,000 drivers,” said Igor Katsman, founder of Driveway.
“The new funding is a recognition that mobile telematics is becoming a ubiquitous part of our everyday lives. Our state-of-the-art technology has removed the barriers that existed with legacy telematics solutions. Customers can be engaged like never before, with resulting big data yielding unprecedented levels of actionable insights,” he added.
Driveway previously completed a $1.3 million seed round in August 2013, with participation from AltaIR Capital, IMI.VC, and Kernel Capital.
A growing tech portfolio
It is not the first time Abramovich, who is famous for his assets in the steel and football industries, is investing in a tech company. Just two weeks ago Ervington led a $21 million round for Anyclip Media, an Istraeli startup which has developed a content marketing platform for distributing premium branded video.
This past spring Abramovich invested in four other Israeli startups: retail solution publisher Mobilibuy, road safety technology provider Saferplace, medical service Medviser, and mobile phone app Music Messenger.
Abramovich’s tech assets in other countries include British mobile operator Truphone, in which he put $118 million in 2013, and Impulse VC, a Moscow-based investment fund and incubator launched in October 2013.
