Transportation Safety Management Company Idelic Raises $8 Million In Funding

By Dan Anderson ● Sep 20, 2019
  • Idelic, a Pittsburgh-based data and analytics company focused on improving safety in the commercial/industrial transportation industry, announced it raised $8 million

Idelic — a Pittsburgh-based data and analytics company focused on improving safety in the commercial/industrial transportation industry — has raised $8 million in Series A funding led by Origin Ventures with participation from TDF Ventures, Birchmere Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, and SaaS Venture Capital. And in conjunction with the financing, Scott Stern of Origin Ventures and Matthew Bressler of TDF Ventures is joining the company’s Board of Directors.

“The ability for fleets to understand the vast amount of data surrounding their drivers is no longer impossible – it’s now become a necessity for all fleets, regardless of size,” said Idelic CEO Hayden Cardiff. “For many fleets, driver turnover surpasses 100% annually, at a cost topping $12K per driver. Driver retention is a major issue for our industry, and insurance companies now base their rates on a fleet’s ability to mitigate driver risk. By better understanding driver behavior and creating a culture of safety, managers can better retain drivers while significantly boosting their fleets’ bottom lines.”

Idelic’s Safety Suite is considered one of the most comprehensive safety and risk management platform in transportation. And its software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution integrates all fleet systems into a single data management platform, giving fleet managers unparalleled visibility into driver behavior and safety operations. Plus Idelic empowers fleet managers to prevent accidents, reduce turnover, and lower insurance costs with its industry-leading Driver Watch List, utilizing advanced proprietary machine learning technologies to predict drivers who are at risk for accidents.

“Origin Ventures is proud to announce our investment in Idelic’s veteran team and industry-leading technology,” added Stern. “Improving safety, compliance, and risk management in the transportation industry has been Idelic’s core mission since the technology was developed at Pitt Ohio Express over a decade ago. These trucking insiders have the technological know-how, industry savvy, and management skills to build a scalable business and push the transportation industry’s status quo into a more compliant, less risky, and safer future.”

Idelic’s co-founders are all Carnegie Mellon University graduates and launched the company in Pittsburgh in part to utilize the top talent the university produces.

“Our office is minutes away from one of the top computer science schools in the world, allowing us to recruit from among the best students and graduates who want to make a real impact without having to move across the country. Pittsburgh has evolved into a premier technology innovation hub, providing recent graduates the ability to work on some of the world’s most challenging problems, all with a significantly lower cost of living,” explained Nick Bartel, COO of Idelic.

Idelic is going to use the funding to grow its engineering and sales teams to meet increasing demand. And the investment also paves the way for the release of a mobile application focused on driver engagement and retention.

“We have a dedicated team of data scientists hyper-focused on improving the Safety Suite’s artificial intelligence, machine learning, and predictive analytics models that help safety teams be proactive in preventing accidents, violations, citations, and injuries, and we’re actively hiring to contribute to these efforts. The world is changing, and we’re designing our technology to change with it,” Cardiff commented. “Imagining a world without accidents isn’t so implausible anymore, and we want to lead the charge to create that safer tomorrow.”