- Leading Fleet Orchestration Platform Bestmile announced it raised $16.5 million in Series B funding to accelerate growth
Bestmile — a leading Fleet Orchestration Platform used to plan, manage, and optimize autonomous and human-driven vehicle fleets — announced it raised $16.5 million in Series B funding. And the company announced it strengthened its leadership to accelerate its growth.
This round of funding was led by Blue Lagoon Capital and TransLink Capital with the participation of existing investors Road Ventures, Partech, Groupe ADP, Airbus Ventures, Serena and others.
Washington DC-based Blue Lagoon Capital is a venture firm that invests in a limited number of companies where its principals actively lend their operational expertise. And Palo Alto-based Translink Capital invests in expansion-stage technology startups and helps them develop strategic partnerships in Asia. Translink’s investment is from its strategic funds with both SOMPO (one of the largest Japanese insurance company) and Japan Airlines.
Blue Lagoon partners Rodney Rogers and Kevin Reid are joining the Bestmile board with Rogers serving as Chairman.
“The market has spoken by embracing fleet orchestration technology as critical for real-world mobility service performance,” said Rogers in a statement. “This space is currently experiencing significant growth and I am very excited to play a role in the success of Bestmile, a technology I feel is the most advanced, intelligent and comprehensive fleet orchestration platform available today.”
Rogers and Reid are both seasoned technology operators — who co-founded enterprise cloud services company Virtustream in 2009 (acquired by EMC Corporation in 2015 for $1.2 billion and is now part of Dell Technologies).
“Bestmile has pioneered the integration of human-driven and autonomous vehicles, with a richly enabled full services platform that permits fleet operators to practically optimize their assets across all modes of transport. At Airbus Ventures we see Bestmile as a key enabler for Urban Air Mobility, with an even brighter future with the proven team of Rogers and Reid on board,” added Airbus Ventures Managing Partner Thomas d’Halluin.
This announcement also reinforces Bestmile’s ability to deliver ultra-efficient dispatching, routing, and ride-matching — which makes fleets up to 10x more efficient and enabling cities and service providers to move more people with fewer vehicles. And Bestmile customers include public transport operators, transportation network companies (TNCs), vehicles OEMs, and taxi companies offering ride-hailing, robotaxi, micro-transit, and autonomous shuttle services.
Bestmile’s platform has supported fleets on three continents since 2014 including the first autonomous fleets to operate on city streets as part of public transport networks. And the platform is the only solution of its kind that is vehicle agnostic, can manage autonomous and human-driven vehicles, supports on-demand and time-based services, integrates with multiple transport modes, and provides end-to-end applications for travelers, drivers, and operators.
“With these funds and leadership, we are ready to advance our leadership in fleet orchestration,” explained Bestmile cofounder and CEO Raphael Gindrat. “We are excited to have the financial and operational support we need to ramp up every function of the organization.”
