Zendrive dilutes stake to raise USD 13.5 mn in Series A

IT company Zendrive has raised USD 13.5 million in Series A funding led by Shervin Pishevar of Sherpa Capital with participation from Thomvest Ventures and also from its existing investors.
"We have raised USD 13.5 million in Series A funding led by Shervin Pishevar of Sherpa Capital against equities. We will use this fund to grow our team and develop more capabilities in our product," Zendrive co-founder and CEO Jonathan told PTI.
This round brings the company's total investment up to USD 15 million.
The company has raised funds from existing investors First Round Capital, BMW i Ventures, Fontinalis Partners which was founded by Ford Motor's Executive Chairman Bill Ford and Tad Montross.

Zendrive has product development centre in Bengaluru where it builds intelligence and data analytics based products that are embedded in mobile applications.
"Our products learn driving behaviour of driver and guide them to make improvement in their driving. Also, many companies use it to monitor compliance of their drivers," Jonathan said.

The company has a workforce of 20 people in India and will use the fund to grow its team in the country.
"The transportation and logistics sectors in India are undergoing rapid growth and modernisation. At the same time, road safety is becoming an increasing focus for regulators and communities, 2,40,000 fatalities on the road in 2013. There is good business for us in India," Zendrive co-founder and VP Engineering Pankaj Risbood said.

He said that Zendrive will increase headcount in India to 70 by the end of this year and also used funds to expand business oversees.
"We have presence in Japan also. We will look at expanding our service around India and Europe. Zendrive technology, by virtue of working on any smartphone, fits in very well with the requirements for a solution that is cheap, does not require hardware and can be rapidly deployed nationwide," Risbood said.