MileIQ Announces Smart Mileage-Tracking Technology to Put Billions Back in the Pockets of Over 50 Million Working Americans
San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) October 09, 2014 -- MileIQ(http://www.mileiq.com) today announced the availability of its smart mileage-tracking technology, which makes it effortless to collect substantial deductions and reimbursements for the estimated 225 billion business miles driven annually. MileIQ’s app has been in beta for nearly a year, and is used by the self-directed workforce, comprised of the estimated 50 million independent contractors, freelancers, real estate agents and business owners that form the lifeblood of the U.S. economy. MileIQ is also announcing $3 million in seed funding led by CRV and including financing from notable investors Marc Benioff, SV Angel and others.
Working independently requires both ingenuity and formidable organization skills. Oftentimes business owners and freelancers are their own accounting, HR, operations and sales teams all wrapped into one – and administrative tasks fall to the bottom of the priority list. MileIQ brings the quantified self to the realm of work, with a smartphone app that automatically captures every mile users drive without taxing battery life or requiring any interaction. MileIQ’s proprietary drive intelligence technology automates much of the classification and calculation of drives; drives can also and be marked as business or personal with a single swipe. This smart mileage-tracking approach alleviates a time-consuming administrative burden so users can focus on what matters to their business without having to forego the thousands of dollars in mileage deductions and reimbursements they’re due.
“MileIQ taps into the core of what I value most about technology -- its ability to introduce efficiencies so people can focus their energy where they have the greatest impact,” says Marc Benioff, founder and CEO of Salesforce, and investor in MileIQ.
Several factors are driving the increase in the growth of the self-directed workforce; the pool of people who benefit most from MileIQ’s technology. Improvements in technology have freed people from the confines of an office and opened up opportunities to pursue a multitude of jobs that put them on the road. In addition to millions of people in traditional careers in real estate, law and skilled trades, an estimated 70 percent of millennials have expressed the desire to work independently, and a recent study by Intuit speculates that 40 percent of America’s workforce will fall into the freelancer category by 2020. These are the ambitious people that accrue hundreds of thousands of dollars a month in reimbursable miles but previously didn’t have the capacity or technology to do it consistently.
“There are more than 225 billion miles driven each year for business purposes, which amounts to more than $85 billion in available reimbursements and deductions,” says Chuck Dietrich, co-founder and CEO of MileIQ. “Much of that is going unclaimed and unpaid, due to the time consuming methods of tracking, classifying and reporting mileage. MileIQ automates much of this, which means time saved, peace-of-mind and most important of all, hundreds or thousands of dollars back in your pocket. We love that our service gives our users back time. That's what technology should do."
MileIQ is easy and intuitive to use. After a one-time download and profile set-up, MileIQ works like an activity tracker and begins to log drives automatically. When it is time to either file an expense report or make mileage deduction claims for taxes, users can go to their web dashboard and export reports directly in a choice of formats including Freshbooks, Concur and other popular accounting, expense and tax platforms.
“For years I knew I was not claiming the full value of my driven miles, but other tracking options required that I remember to activate them or write something down -- I don’t have time for that when I’m investing all my energy into my business,” says Joe Schutt, a real estate agent and MileIQ user in Boston, MA. “MileIQ hit the nail on the head. I don’t have to remember to do anything, and it just works. At the end of the year, MileIQ generates a summary for me to use when filing my taxes; even with just a partial year of MileIQ in 2013, I saved thousands more than I had in previous years and my accountant loved that I had it all tracked in a neatly organized summary. For the most accurate tracking and easiest, most positive user experience, MileIQ is the best choice.”
MileIQ is available for download from the App Store and will soon be available from Google Play. With a free plan, MileIQ will track up to 40 drives per month and sync them to an online mileage log at MileIQ.com for easy editing and expense reporting. Users who wish to track more than 40 drives a month can upgrade to an unlimited-drive plan for $5.99/month or $59.99/year.
About MileIQ
MileIQ is dedicated to the self-directed workforce, providing products and services to support the over 50 million business owners, independent professionals and enterprising individuals who work in every imaginable industry -- real estate, sales, services, healthcare, construction, finance, design, and more -- creating their own success and forming the lifeblood of the U.S. economy. Our smart mileage-tracking technology alleviates a time-consuming administrative burden so users can focus on what matters to their business without having to forego the thousands of dollars in mileage deductions and reimbursements they’re due. The MileIQ mobile app automatically captures every mile users drive without taxing battery life or requiring any interaction, and our proprietary drive intelligence automates much of the classification and calculation of their drives. Integrations with FreshBooks, Concur, and other popular accounting, expense and tax platforms make it easy to report mileage, providing users with peace of mind and putting money back in their pockets. MileIQ was founded in 2013 by a team of experienced entrepreneurs from Salesforce, VMWare and IDEO and is backed by CRV, Marc Benioff, SV Angel, and other notable investors. MileIQ for iPhone is available in the App Store; MileIQ for Android is coming soon. More information is available at http://www.mileiq.com.
Kimberly Angell, Wish Public Relations, (415) 471-7272, [email protected]
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