Announcing recent funding received from John Porter, leading technology entrepreneur and venture capitalist, and their next round of funding of £10 million, Richard Parris, Chairman, Rob Gorby, Chief Commercial Officer, and Tim Shields, Chief Product Officer of DRIVE Software Solutions are keynoting at the 12th Annual Follow The Entrepreneur (FTE) Summit in Mykonos on the 5th of October 2021.
Due to recent significant client and partnership wins which are not yet disclosed, DRIVE Software Solutions will be bringing in further capital of £10 million, building on the validation of one of the world’s most significant technology venture capitalists, John Porter, now a significant shareholder of DRIVE. Porter, a founding shareholder of VIVA Investment Partners, along with Richard Parris, Chairman, and Julie Meyer, Director of DRIVE Software Solutions and CEO of VIVA Investment Partners, have supported DRIVE through COVID and after the acquisition in November 2019 by VIVA Investment Partners.
The £10 million will continue to accelerate DRIVE’s ODO platform’s growth, powered by ORACLE Cloud, which has enabled brokers and dealers across the United Kingdom to build digital businesses during COVID. ODO is a premium innovator in operational fleet management of EVs, carbon footprints, connected car data collection and operation, integration of multiple modes of mobility, and logistic industry operations. DRIVE has an installed base of more than 1.5 million vehicles.
Under Chief Commercial Officer Robert Gorby’s leadership, DRIVE’s 30-year technology leadership has found new energy in the Electric Vehicles Ecosystem. The ODO platform organizes the economics for all of the applications which provide data to fleet managers.
During the most recent 12 months. DRIVE has generated significant customer wins for the ODO platform, signing supply/support agreements with a variety of corporates and their fleet managers, including Acosta Europe, with UK brokers such as Select and leasing companies such as Rivervale. Additional revenue will be generated through agreements with suppliers to the leasing ecosystem, allowing the company to generate income from a wide array of related applications. The relationship with Masternaut, with a leader in EV transition planning, exemplifies this “whole of market” approach. Over the coming decade, fleet managers will need to maintain a balance between EV and ICE, for which ODO data management provides the required systems. New growth opportunities include large fleet management, EV Data Dashboard and Uber for Fleets.
Commenting on DRIVE’s potential, Dr. Julie Meyer MBE, CEO of VIP, said:
“DRIVE’s ODO will become the de-facto standard for Fleet Managers of Electric Vehicles, turning every charging network into a fleet manager.”
