Benzinga - by FreightWaves, .
Platform Science, a provider of connected vehicle solutions, announced on Tuesday a significant milestone in its growth journey, securing $125 million in funding aimed at bolstering its presence in the commercial trucking sector.
Participating in this round are existing investors 8VC, NewRoad Capital Partners, and Prologis Ventures (NYSE: PLD), joined by new backers Activant Capital, Manhattan Ventures Partners and BDT & MSD Partners.
This expansion round also witnessed participation from Platform Science's strategic allies, including C.R. England, Cummins (NYSE: CMI), and Paccar (NASDAQ: PCAR), all of whom forged partnerships with the company in 2023.
Additionally, past partners such as Daimler Truck North America (DTNA), RyderVentures (NYSE: R), and Schneider National (NYSE: SNDR) reiterated their support, underscoring the continued momentum of Platform Science's collaborative efforts within the industry.
The company last announced its Series C raise in 2022, led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 for $115 million, valuing the company at $575 million. Platform Science has raised $309 million since 2017.
"This funding has the potential to help us accelerate the launch of additional OEM partners and it will enable us to accelerate the number of on-vehicle applications and service partners we add to the vehicle ecosystem" Jack Kennedy, CEO of Platform Science said while continuing to elaborate on the success of its Virtual Vehicle platform that was developed in collaboration with DTNA, Navistar, Paccar and other OEMs.
Virtual Vehicle facilitates direct access to real-time vehicle data for enterprise fleets, telematics service providers (TSPs), third-party developers, shippers, fleet managers and OEMs. By integrating telematics hardware during production, Virtual Vehicle eliminates the need for costly aftermarket installations.
| Funding amount | $125 million |
| Funding round | Growth investment |
| Lead investors | 8VC, NewRoad Capital Partners, and Prologis Ventures |
| Secondary investors | Activant Capital, Manhattan Ventures Partners, BDT & MSD Partners, C.R. England, Cummins, Paccar, DTNA, RyderVentures and Schneider National |
| Business goals for the round | Expand partnerships with OEMs |
| Total funding | $309 million* |
*According to Pitchbook
At the same time, fleet managers gain access to a diverse catalog of tailored solutions, while TSPs and developers tap into a vast customer base and distribution channel.
In May 2020, DTNA became the first OEM to integrate factory-installed telematics with cloud and in-dash technology onto Virtual Vehicle.
"We see OEMs who partner with Platform Science becoming more and more creative as they leverage our platform and tools to become software developers providing value-added applications and services to the vehicles they design and manufacture" Kennedy told FreightWaves.
Kennedy explained that with the investment and participation of its OEM partners, Platform Science will have the potential to leverage the OEMs' pool of data to build AI models, "to capture more and more nuance to fine-tune predictive maintenance, supply chain optimization, traffic flow management, fuel and power consumption and an endless number of other use cases."
Platform Science has also recently announced partnerships with LTL provider Averitt in August and truckload transportation company Cheema Freightlines in December.
The post Platform Science secures $125M to grow OEM partnerships appeared first on FreightWaves.