BestMile’s Autonomous and Shared Mobility Platform Gets Additional Funding
BestMile today announced an addition of $2 million early-stage seed funding from Partech Venture, Serena Capital and Airbus Venture to its capital to further pursue its vision for autonomous and shared mobility.
The Seed Funders
Airbus Venture, an early-stage and Series A investment arm of Airbus Group; established in 2015 is on a mission to invest in promising, disruptive technology and startups connected to Airbus’ activities. The Airbus Venture team provides both funding and support to companies developing new technology in mobility, security, and the future of flight.
Partech Venture, a Silicon Valley based global investment firm, with a keen interest in digital and new technologies in Paris, Berlin and San Francisco. The firm has seed companies like insurance start-up Alan, the ApolloShield anti-drone system, the blockchain-based start-up Atlas.money, e-commerce drone delivery start-up, Flirtey, connected medicine business, Push Doctor and flying water taxi company, SeaBubbles.
Serena Capital, a VC based in France that provides early-stage, seed funding and operational support to startups. It targets high-growth, technology-driven companies in the software, E-commerce and Open Source sectors.
“We’re thrilled to back such a strategic company for the whole Autonomous Vehicles industry”, said Jean-Baptiste Dumont, General Partner at Serena Capital. “BestMile is the missing link between manufacturers and mobility providers, allowing them to scale the deployment of their fleets by using a centralized platform connecting vehicles and coordinating and optimizing journeys”.
Joining the BestMile’s Team
The Seed Funding exercise will see two new members joining BestMile’s Board of Directors. They are Reza Malekzadeh and Jean-Baptiste Dumont, General Partners at Partech Venture and Serena Capital respectively,
Also, a new Chief Technology Officer has been appointed to the BestMile’s executive team. Zhao Lu has worked in research and development for IBM and Silicon Valley’s startups with a proven track record; he was instrumental in the development and deployment of one of the world’s leading taxi platform, Easy Taxi.
What’s Next
Armed with fresh funds, BestMile aims to accelerate the deployment of its Autonomous Fleet Platform in the global scene and strengthen its technology, sales and marketing resources across Europe and the United States.
“The additional funding will help us further our goal of delivering the best mobility management platform to a fast-growing industry,” said Raphael Gindrat, CEO and co-founder of BestMile. “We are thrilled to have new partners, who share our vision, joining us in the journey and contributing their unique experiences to our mission.”
“Autonomous vehicles are no longer the realm of science fiction; they are already on the roads and represent one of the biggest changes to mobility,” said Reza Malekzadeh, General Partner at Partech Ventures. “BestMile delivers an enabling platform that is essential for the deployment of this industry”.
Frost & Sullivan stated, “Autonomous vehicles are seen as the future of the mobility industry and the company provides the strategic link between autonomous vehicle fleet owners and passengers. Frost & Sullivan firmly believes that with its robust expansion plans along with a significant technological lead and comprehensive understanding of market mobility needs of developed and emerging markets, BestMile will be instrumental in building a new mobility paradigm”.
