Zubie Reports $10 Million in Series A Funding

Zubie, a connected car service provider focused on maximizing connected car capabilities for consumers and businesses, announced it has raised $10 million in Series A funding from investors; Castrol innoVentures, the innovation arm of global lubricant giant Castrol; communications company Comporium, Inc., and OpenAir Equity Partners.

According to a release, additionally, the company announced John M. Barnes, Jr., executive vice president - marketing & business solutions for Comporium and Jonathan Tudor, venture director for Castrol innoVentures will join the Zubie Board of Directors.

Launched nationally in September, the Zubie Service has the potential to make driving and owning a car safer, easier and less expensive. It uses a cellular device -- the Zubie Key -- to plug directly into a car's On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) port and capture valuable vehicle and driving data for car owners and drivers -- car diagnostics, family safety location-based alerts, driving behavior reports and several features to make daily driving easier - including travel coordination tools. The Zubie Service is currently sold through Amazon.com, BestBuy.com, the Zubie.co Storefront, Telesales and via channels for enterprise customers. It is iPhone and Android-compatible.

The driving and vehicle data that Zubie captures is also valuable to enterprise partners in the Insurance, Automotive Services and Advertising industries. Zubie plans to integrate these partners into the Zubie experience in a way that directly benefits its users through Zubie's SmartOffer technology.

"We are delighted to support such an innovative company that is developing friendly connected car solutions now and looking to the future car market," said Angel Gambino, Smart Mobility General Manager, Castrol InnoVentures. "Our investment in Zubie reflects our ongoing interest in technologies that have significant potential to offer a predictive, timely, contextual, convenient and simple capability to the mobile consumer of the future."

Zubie investor Comporium has experience in the connected home market and sees a fit with Zubie's product in ways that will delight the customer with the merging and evolution of the connected home and the connected car.

The Zubie Service uses a proprietary AlwaysSmart technology, meaning it is always on and always connected. Its car and driving data is transmitted straight from the Zubie Key to the cloud via built-in cellular data connection. From the moment the Zubie key is plugged in, the car is connected and Zubie is collecting data, totally independent of any phone or other device.

The always-on connection delivers a continuous and total picture of car and driving activity valued by both users and potential third- party Zubie partners. Customers have the option of sharing their data in exchange for services and discounts from the partners. This in turn enables the company to aggregate a tremendous amount of actual and accurate driver, trip and car data on the Zubie platform that can be used by partners such as insurance companies, auto dealers and resellers for customer relationship programs.

"Zubie is perfectly poised to be the point of connection where consumers can save time and money and providers can better understand consumer needs and provide compelling offers. We're very excited that Castrol innoVentures and Comporium have seen this potential," said Tim Kelly, Zubie chief executive officer.

More information:

www.zubie.co

www.castrolinnoventures.com

www.comporium.com

www.openairep.com

((Comments on this story may be sent to [email protected]))