Mojio Accelerates Connected Car Platform with $30 Million Series B
Mojio has made the decision to keep their funding local.
The Vancouver-based connected car platform has announced a $30 million Series B funding round, led by Toronto’s Kensington Capital. There was also new investments from Trend Forward Capital and Innogy Ventures, along with all current investors like the Amazon Alexa Fund and Relay Ventures.
Mojio chose for a Canadian firm to lead the investment round in a strategic effort to keep things local, despite receiving offers from several global firms.
“From its Vancouver headquarters, Mojio is building a world-class team with an innovative technology platform gaining rapid customer traction, scaling a global business at the intersection of the IoT and automotive industries,” said Rick Nathan, managing director of Kensington Capital.
The new funding will go towards expanding the global growth of Mojio’s carrier-grade connected car offering.
The notion of connected cars is really taking off as consumers demand more smart integrations from a product they use every day, often for hours. Newly-made cars often have connectivity features, but there are still over one billion unconnected cars on the roads that can use Mojio’s technology.
“People don’t want to wait for their next vehicle to access valuable safety and security features, let alone another 10 to 15 years for the promise of self-driving cars,” said Kenny Hawk, CEO of Mojio. “But they are willing to spend $10 to $15 per month to access actionable, real-world data that empowers smarter decision making around family safety, driving behavior, vehicle maintenance, and that offers a hassle-free Wi-Fi hotspot that doesn’t drain your smartphone.”
Mojio currently operates in five countries, across seven wireless carriers. The company has most recently made massive strides at home in Canada, as the service is available on the three big carriers, Rogers, Bell and TELUS. This means that nine out of ten Canadians can access Mojio’s technology.
The company has connected over 500,000 cars around the world, and Mojio’s technology is compatible with almost any car manufactured past 1996. To use the platform, a driver must purchase a piece of hardware and plug it into their car’s OBD-II port. In Canada, Mojio has been partnering with ZTE Canada to offer the connected car hardware.
Only 4.9 per cent of Canadian cars sport built-in connectivity, while countries like the U.S. and the U.K have connectivity rates of 12 and 11 per cent respectively.
Users most often use Mojio to check engine issues, monitor their car’s location, and receive critical recall notices regarding a certain element of their car. So far, over five billion miles worth of driving data has been collected, allowing Mojio to find better ways to harness their own platform and inform car owners on what matters most.
At the end of 2016, Mojio raised a $15 million Series A.
