HopSkipDrive Announces Strategic Investment and Wide-Ranging Partnership With Student Transportation Inc. to Create a Full Se...
November 21 2017 - 9:01AM
HopSkipDrive, the leading ride service for kids, today announced
the closing of $7.4M in strategic funding led by Student
Transportation Inc. (STI) (NASDAQ:STB), an industry leader in
school transportation, safety and fleet services throughout North
America. These funds will be used to help HopSkipDrive
accelerate growth in new and existing markets and scale its
operations to meet an ever growing demand as busy families need
help getting kids to school, to after-school activities and back
home.
“HopSkipDrive is thrilled to partner with STI and is excited to
leverage their expertise in K-12 school transportation,” said
Joanna McFarland, CEO of HopSkipDrive. “We help get thousands of
families to and from schools safely and dependably every day, and
have partnered with hundreds of schools to offer innovative and
flexible rideshare and carpool solutions. STI transports 1.25
million children to and from school every day and their investment
and partnership is a great validation of not only our service but
also our commitment to safety.”
Together, HopSkipDrive and STI can offer schools a full suite of
solutions to manage transportation logistics and costs more
effectively, including offering rideshare and carpool solutions
where it doesn’t make sense to utilize a full school bus both in
HopSkipDrive’s existing core markets and potential new ones across
North America, or using rideshare to bring groups of kids together
to a school bus stop to more efficiently fill bus capacity. This
first of its kind partnership demonstrates how technology startups
can partner with, rather than disrupt, established legacy
businesses.
HopSkipDrive currently helps families get to and from more than
2,500 schools across Los Angeles, Orange County and the Bay Area
and has directly partnered with over 200 private, public and
charter schools, and non-profit organizations to provide student
transportation rideshare and carpool solutions.
“Our investment puts us in great company with a visionary,
entrepreneurial CEO, plus an exciting, innovative management team.
We know they are excited as well to benefit from our
expertise, our infrastructure, and valued core competencies in
safety, maintenance, procurement and fleet management, let alone
the ability to assist them in scaling the business as part of our
investment,” stated Denis J. Gallagher, Chairman and CEO of Student
Transportation Inc.
As part of this investment, Denis J. Gallagher of STI will join
HopSkipDrive’s Board of Directors and will work with the rideshare
company to rapidly scale its partnerships with schools in new
markets. Existing investors including FirstMark Capital, Upfront
Ventures, and other insiders, as well as new investors Skyview
Capital and Halogen Ventures also participated in the
investment.
Stemming from HopSkipDrive’s demonstrated commitment to safety
and reliability, the company has entered into a pilot program with
the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE), the Department
of Children and Family Services, and L.A.U.S.D. to ensure students
in foster care have the ability to remain at their school of origin
even if they have been moved to out of home care. Through
this program LACOE will utilize HopSkipDrive services to transport
foster youth from their new home to their school and back
again. HopSkipDrive will work alongside LACOE to offer these
services to the community of over 28,000 foster youth in LA
County.
“Students in foster care face multiple and sometimes ongoing
trauma, including removal from their homes,” said Rachelle Touzard,
LACOE Project Director. “Keeping them in their school with familiar
teachers and friends can help minimize that secondary trauma and
dramatically increase their potential for academic success. By
partnering with HopSkipDrive on this pilot transportation program,
students will now be able to remain at their schools when it is in
their best interest.”
For more information about HopSkipDrive, please visit
www.hopskipdrive.com
About HopSkipDrive HopSkipDrive is the leading
ride service for kids founded by three working moms. HopSkipDrive
makes it easy for parents to schedule rides with CareDrivers
through our mobile apps or website and then track their child’s
ride in real time. Schools and organizations also partner with
HopSkipDrive to develop flexible rideshare transportation options
for families. All CareDrivers have more than five years of
childcare experience and must pass a selective 15-point
certification process, including extensive background checks,
vehicle inspection, fingerprinting, DMV checks, and in-person
meetings. HopSkipDrive also tracks and monitors every ride in
real-time with live support. To learn more, visit
www.hopskipdrive.com or download the iOS or Android App. To become
a CareDriver, submit an application here.
Media contact:Rachel
RogersRachel.Rogers@hopskipdrive.com310-770-4917
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