TMCnet News

Urgent.ly, the Company Reinventing Roadside Assistance, Secures Strategic Funding Round led by Forté Ventures with Allianz Digital Corporate Ventures, and Verizon Ventures
[September 29, 2015]

Urgent.ly, the Company Reinventing Roadside Assistance, Secures Strategic Funding Round led by Forté Ventures with Allianz Digital Corporate Ventures, and Verizon Ventures


In recognition of its success in reinventing the $10 billion roadside assistance market, Urgent.ly announced today that it has raised $7 million in Series A funding from Allianz Digital Corporate Ventures, Verizon Ventures, and Forté Ventures. Urgent.ly, America's leading on-demand roadside assistance service, will use this major infusion of capital to rapidly scale the growth and expansion of its current nationwide operations.

Known as the "Uber for Roadside Assistance," Urgent.ly is the quickest, safest, and most innovative roadside assistance service in America. Designed to take full advantage of the mobile on-demand economy and connected vehicle platforms, Urgent.ly delivers unmatched transparency allowing customers to:

  • Identify and connect with the nearest available, approved service provider
  • Track the service provider's progress and ETA in realtime on their smartphone map
  • Have the direct contact information for the service provider
  • Get quicker response times
  • Benefit from upfront standardized pricing

Urgent.ly is also the only roadside assistance service with automatic accident detection alerts and FamilyView SM, allowing families to know instantly if their loved ones have requested help and monitor the arrival of the service provider in realtime on their phone as well.

Urgent.ly is a cost effective alternative to traditional subscription-based auto clubs. Over 200,000 drivers across America have found better roadside assistance service through Urgent.ly. In addition, millions of drivers will have direct access to Urgent.ly through its current and future integrations with a broad range of mapping and connected car platforms - including AT&T (News - Alert) Drive, Cost2Drive, Dash, DriversEd.com, MapQuest, Mojio, ParkWhiz, TollSmart, Zendrive, Zubie, and others.

"People are not happy with the old way of roadside assistance - paying auto club memberships every year whether they use it or not and then wait and wait when they really need help, not really knowing if or when the tow truck will actually show up," said Urgent.l CEO Chris Spanos. "Urgent.ly has changed that. Drivers now get a better, faster, safer and more transparent experience at their critical moment of need, saving them time, money and anxiety. We are incredibly excited about our great strategic partners which will allow us to rapidly accelerate both the growth of our nationwide service and our lead in driving innovation."



"We consider Urgent.ly a great asset to our investment portfolio of Digital Ventures," says Marc Oerke, Head of Allianz Digital Corporate Ventures. "The solution developed by Urgent.ly delivers a fully customer centric value proposition in a digitalized way. Our investment in Urgent.ly provides Allianz access to the US market of on-demand roadside assistance and we look forward to promoting partnership opportunities and innovation between Urgent.ly and Allianz in other markets."

"In a market served by an overwhelming number of local and national service providers - all with different ways of operating - traditional roadside assistance is anything but easy," said Jeffrey Black, Director at Verizon (News - Alert) Ventures. "To truly serve customers, roadside assistance should be fast, convenient, transparent and affordable. Urgent.ly combines the power of on-demand technology with a network of service providers and connected car and mobile technology providers to improve the roadside assistance experience. We're excited to partner with Urgent.ly and work together on the company's next phase of growth."


"Urgent.ly is the latest example of a growing number of companies applying the latest available technologies to drastically improve industries that have not seen a material change in the way they've operated over the past 50 years - in this case, roadside assistance," said Louis Rajczi, Partner at Forté Ventures. "We believe their ability to drastically improve the efficiency, transparency and safety in an inherently stressful situation will rapidly attract a strong customer following. Their relationships with global partners like Verizon and Allianz will be invaluable in supporting the company's rapid growth and expansion."

About Urgent.ly

Urgent.ly is America's leading on-demand roadside assistance service. Designed for the on-demand economy and the connected vehicle revolution, Urgent.ly delivers the quickest, safest and most innovative roadside assistance experience - all without a subscription or membership fee. It offers transparent service with clear, flat-rate pricing, cashless payment, and reliable help for motorists in need of a tow, tire change, fuel delivery, jump start or lock-out service. Urgent.ly is also the only roadside assistance service in America with accident alert detection technology and FamilyView - a unique feature that provides families and caregivers with peace of mind by allowing them to track the roadside service of a loved one from start to finish. To get the free apps or for more information, visit http://urgent.ly/.

About Allianz Digital Corporate Ventures

Allianz Digital Corporate Ventures' mission is to strengthen Allianz by investing in innovation, and to strengthen its investment portfolio by facilitating strategic business development opportunities with Allianz. Headquartered in Munich, Germany, Allianz Digital Corporate Ventures performs venture investments for the Allianz Group, a global financial services provider with 85 million retail and corporate clients in more than 70 countries. In fiscal year 2014 around 147,000 employees worldwide achieved total revenues of 122.3 billion euros and an operating profit of 10.4 billion euros. For more information, visit: https://www.allianz.com/digital-corporate-ventures/.

About Verizon Ventures

Verizon Ventures seeks and invests in promising entrepreneurial companies who are tackling some of today's biggest technological challenges for Verizon's consumer and enterprise customers. Over the last decade Verizon Ventures has invested in more than forty companies covering a range of industries, technologies and market segments. Verizon Ventures offers support to its portfolio companies with technology and product development, market planning and sales, and access to the networks and platforms of Verizon Communications. Combining the power of experienced investment professionals with a focused venture development team, Verizon Ventures connects innovators with strategic and financial resources that advance their businesses. For more information, visit http://www.verizonventures.com/.

About Forté Ventures

Forté Ventures collaborates and co-invests with corporate strategic partners in the most innovative and promising technology companies in North America. We invest across a diversified set of industry sectors including Information Technology, Mobility, Digital Media, Financial Technology and Industrial Technology. For more information, visit http://www.forteventures.com/.


[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]