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Venture Capital News: RidePal Gets Rolling with $3.2M Series A

2013-09-26
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Provider of convenient, comfortable, Wi-Fi-enabled bus rides for corporate employees today announced a $3.2m Series A financing.
RidePal, a provider of convenient, comfortable, Wi-Fi-enabled bus rides for corporate employees today announced a $3.2m Series A financing round led by Claremont Creek Ventures and Volvo Group Venture Capital.

RidePal balances commuter preferences and their employers' needs and optimizes pick-up points and route scheduling. RidePal provides rides for the employees of more than 30 companies, and delivers happy and relaxed workers to their place of business and saves commuters' time every week.

'RidePal has completely changed my commute and has provided me with 10 more hours of productivity per week,' says Sophie McCallum, Director of Operations at Clinovo.

RidePal's corporate customers range from large corporations such as Intuit and Groupon to smaller ventures including biotech startup Clinovo.

RidePal currently provides daily direct commute services between 11 cities around the San Francisco Bay including the recently announced bus service between San Francisco and Palo Alto. The Mayor of Palo Alto, Gregory Scharff, said at the Palo Alto announcement event, 'Traffic is the main impediment for expansion. This service takes cars off the road and allows for more growth.'

RidePal engages the buses of partners including Black Tie Transportation and Bauer Transportation.

Nathalie Criou, RidePal CEO and co-founder, said: 'We have seen tremendous growth in the last few months, due to the word of mouth communications by our happy users. We are excited to work with Claremont Creek Ventures and Volvo Group Venture Capital as their insights and domain expertise will prove immensely valuable in expanding our services.'

Nat Goldhaber, Managing Director of Claremont Creek Ventures believes RidePal is solving a worldwide problem. 'Every work day millions of people unnecessarily suffer through a long, frustrating twice-daily commute. A commuter strategy is necessary for companies to attract top talent and keep employees committed. RidePal solves these challenges. RidePal is life-changing for its users, and enables efficient commuter management for participating companies,' Goldhaber added.

Jonas Landstrom, Head of Americas at Volvo Group Venture Capital, commented, 'Volvo is excited to partner with RidePal. Mobility solutions in urban areas are a focus area for Volvo Group going forward and RidePal responds in an innovative way to an acute global need. We look forward to leveraging the strengths of both organizations to contribute to better commutes globally.'

About RidePal

RidePal provides managed commute-bus solutions for corporate employees. With RidePal, commuters enjoy a swift, comfortable, relaxing and productive ride to work, and companies provide a valuable employee benefit, reduce their carbon footprint, and extend their recruiting range. RidePal's solution imposes minimal management overhead on companies, yet feels like an in-house solution to its riders, all for a fraction of the cost of driving or of operating an entire fleet of buses. Large companies with an existing bus service can also reduce their overhead and cut costs by having RidePal manage their program. RidePal was founded in 2011 and is based in San Francisco, Ca. For more details please visit www.ridepal.com.

About Claremont Creek Ventures

Claremont Creek Ventures (CCV) is a seed and early stage venture firm. CCV invests in companies that serve essential, broad-impact industries - including healthcare and energy - with innovative digital solutions that can increase operational efficiency and/or create high-growth, high-margin businesses. Many established companies in these market sectors have not fully capitalized on tools and tactics that enable distributed intelligence, large-data analytics, personalization, and web- and mobile-based business models. CCV portfolio companies deliver products and services to help these sectors benefit from the greater speed, lower costs, increased precision, and creative potential of digitization. As part of our investment strategy, the firm utilizes its proprietary life-cycle venturing program and partners with entrepreneurs and institutions, including UC Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore Labs, Stanford University and UC Davis. Claremont Creek Ventures has more than $300 million in capital under management in two funds. For more information, visit www.claremontcreek.com.

About Volvo Group Venture Capital

Volvo Group Venture Capital makes venture capital and growth equity investments within the transport industry. Our mission is to drive new business growth and to be a leading corporate investor in sustainable transport and infrastructure solutions.
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