US-based roadside assistance provider Urgent.ly has raised $21m in a series B round that included the corporate venturing units owned by automotive manufacturers BMW, Porsche and Jaguar Land Rover.
BMW i Ventures, Porsche Ventures and InMotion Ventures all took part in the round alongside undisclosed current investors, boosting the company’s overall funding to $38m.
Founded in 2013, Urgent.ly has created a mobile app that enables drivers to rapidly request roadside assistance, combining location-based services, real-time data and artificial intelligence.
The user is connected to the nearest available professional who can provide towing, winching, jump starting, tire changing, emergency fuel delivery and locksmith services. BMW is partnering Urgent.ly to provide the service to its US-based drivers.
Kasper Sage, partner at BMW i Ventures, said: “Urgent.ly will allow [original equipment manufacturers] around the world to provide their customers the kind of real-time and connected digital experience they now expect in everything from food delivery to ride sharing.
“Urgent.ly enables unparalleled transparency connecting dealerships, OEMs, providers and customers in real time, with actionable data-driven insights to optimise the experience along every step of the way.”
The company had secured $10m from Verizon Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of telecommunications company Verizon, as well as tire distributor American Tire Distributors (ATD) and venture capital firm Forté Ventures in late 2017
Forté Ventures had led Urgent.ly’s $7m series A round in 2015, investing with Allianz Digital Corporate Ventures, a subsidiary of insurance firm Allianz. It followed $1.7m from Select Venture Partners, Blu Ventures, CIT Gap Funds and various angel investors across two 2014 rounds.