Urgent.ly, The Leading Global Digital Roadside Assistance Platform, Picks Up Series B Round: American Tire Distributors Joins as Strategic Investor and Partner
Vienna, VA (PRWEB) October 03, 2017 -- Urgent.ly, the only global digital roadside assistance platform, announced today a $10 million Series B strategic investment round. American Tire Distributors, the largest U.S. tire distributor, is the newest member of the investor syndicate that includes existing investors Verizon Ventures and Forté Ventures. Urgent.ly will use the funds to expand the global reach of its innovative and transformative Roadside as a Service™ platform across automotive, insurance and transportation-related verticals.
Urgent.ly reinvented the global roadside assistance industry by providing the quickest, safest and most innovative roadside assistance solution. Urgent.ly empowers stranded drivers with 2x faster on-site times, real-time tracking and status updates, eliminating much of the anxiety associated with the traditional analog roadside experience. By delivering complete visibility to partners in real-time and actionable insights from rich data, Urgent.ly increases customer satisfaction, improves customer retention and lowers the overall costs of managing roadside programs.
For one major global brand, Urgent.ly’s platform manages over tens of thousands of roadside assistance events every month and delivers millions of dollars in annual savings by eliminating over 250,000 phone calls from their contact center. Additionally, the time to connect a customer with a qualified service provider decreased by nearly 90%, from 16 minutes to under 2 minutes, resulting in a significant increase in customer satisfaction.
"Urgent.ly has a unique combination of location-based services, real-time data, AI and machine-to-machine communication and we are excited to be a part of a company reinventing a very old experience and providing a compelling customer experience," says Jeffrey Black, Director with Verizon Ventures. "It's been rewarding to watch the Urgent.ly team expand internationally and we look forward to seeing the company continue to grow and expand its reach and services in the emerging Roadside as a Service space."
American Tire Distributors, the largest U.S. tire distributor, joins the team with a strategic investment. "ATD is excited to partner with Urgent.ly as an investor as we see opportunities to leverage their industry leading innovative platform in support of our customers," says Stuart Schuette, CEO of American Tire Distributors.
Mr. James Micali, member of the Board of Directors of ATD, will also join Urgent.ly’s Board of Directors. Mr. Micali, former Chairman and President of Michelin North America, is a senior advisor to and member of Azalea Capital, and will be instrumental in building relationships with potential partners across the global automotive industry.
In addition to operating in the U.S., Urgent.ly’s Roadside as a Service™ platform powers roadside assistance programs for leading companies in Europe and Australia. Urgent.ly’s Roadside as a Service™ solution continues to deliver fast, safe and transparent service to hundreds of thousands of stranded motorists, 24/7/365 around the globe.
“We’re very excited by the continued support of our existing investors and honored to welcome a leader and innovator like American Tire Distributors as a strategic partner to the Urgent.ly team,” said Urgent.ly co-founder and CEO Chris Spanos. “We see the incredible global response to our digital solutions and the tremendous growth opportunity as we help solve critical customer experience, service delivery, operational management and data analytics problems that have material impact on customer retention, cost reduction and revenue growth for automotive, insurance and other transportation-related companies.”
About Urgent.ly
Urgent.ly’s Roadside as a Service™, the only global digital roadside assistance platform, continues to reimagine the roadside assistance industry to the benefit of global brands, roadside assistance professionals, and consumers. Urgent.ly’s solution delivers the quickest, safest and most innovative roadside assistance service, products and technology by combining location-based services, real-time data, AI and machine-to-machine communication. Urgent.ly’s platform powers roadside assistance solutions in North America, Europe and Asia for brands across the automotive, insurance, telematics and other transportation-focused verticals. For more information, visit http://www.geturgently.com or visit media(at)urgent.ly.
About Verizon Ventures
Verizon Ventures is the corporate venture capital unit of Verizon (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ) and invests in promising entrepreneurial companies that are tackling some of today's biggest technology challenges. With a collaborative approach to commercialization, Verizon Ventures is focused on helping companies connect financial resources with strategic, non-investment business functions necessary to deliver successful outcomes. Verizon Ventures partners with companies to help them scale substantively to impact society and lead to new markets. Over the last decade, Verizon Ventures has invested in more than 50 companies covering a range of industries and technologies. For more information, visit http://www.verizonventures.com and follow @verizonventures.
About Forté Ventures
Forté Ventures is a venture capital firm with offices in Atlanta, Chicago and Silicon Valley. Forté Ventures invests across a diversified set of industry sectors including Information Technology, Mobility, Digital Media, Financial Technology and Industrial Technology in close collaboration with corporate strategic partners. For more information, visit http://www.forteventures.com.
About American Tire Distributors
American Tire Distributors, Inc. is one of the largest independent suppliers of tires to the replacement tire market. The Company operates more than 140 distribution centers, serving approximately 70,000 customers across the North America. The Company offers an unsurpassed breadth and depth of inventory, frequent delivery and value-added services to customers in the tire and automotive industry. Headquartered in Huntersville, North Carolina, American Tire Distributors, Inc., and its affiliates, employ more than 5000 employees across the United States and Canada.
Arthur Schleifer, Urgent.ly Roadside Assistance, http://www.geturgently.com, +1 571-399-6106, [email protected]
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