HopSkipDrive, a Los Angeles based transportation company for children, has received a $22 million in funding in the latest round. The round, largest yet, saw participation from 15 investors which include Cyrus Capital Partners, State Farm Ventures, Upfront Ventures, and FirstMark Capital. The startup has now raised a total of $44 million in the last six years.
Founded in 2014, HopSkipDrive is a ride-sharing service for kids, dubbed as Uber for kids. The goal of the company is to help busy families by providing transportation for their children with their, what they call, CareDrivers. CareDrivers are highly vetted drivers hired by the company who have at least 5 years of childcare experience. For safety and dependability, these drivers need to additionally pass a HopSkipDrive 15-point certification test. The test includes extensive background checks, TrustLine registry membership, fingerprinting, reference checks, monthly DMV checks, vehicle maintenance checks, and final meetings with the HopSkipDrive team member. With the Safe Ride Support Technology, the company enables the real-time monitoring of the ride to proactively address any situation on-spot.
The company has helped kids by completing over one million trips from schools and back to their homes safely. It works for 6000+ schools situated in different districts of almost 8 states and Washington DC. With the newly collected funds, the company is planning to expand its business in more states and districts.
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Moreover, HopSkipDrive wants to further enhance partnership with schools and districts who are working for homeless children, those in foster care, and in the special centers where special care in transportation is required. In January 2020, HopSkipDrive partnered with Clark County Department of Child and Family Services in Las Vegas and launched its service to families to help foster children get to school safely and on-time.
Services Loved by Families
McFarland, CEO of the company, told that “the capital will really help us expand to more markets and service to as many kids as we can.” MacFarland added that she does not consider Uber and Lyft as their competitors because these companies are providing services to the ones who are adults or above 18 and can manage things on their own. The drivers at HopSkipDrive have experience and are mostly females who have to pass the different layers of the screening process before getting the driving job. That is why our services are trusted by most of the families.
Featured image: HopSkipDrive
