Driving analytics software development kit (SDK) maker Zendrive, Inc. has raised $13.5 million Series A in a round led by Shervin Pishevar of Sherpa Capital that included Nyca Partners, Thomvest Ventures, First Round Capital, BMW i Ventures, Fontinalis Partners, and Tad Montross.

Founded in 2013, Zendrive takes an interesting approach to tracking driver safety by only utilizing the sensors in a smartphone.

The company offers the Zenfleets SDK that can be integrated into fleet applications for tracking a drivers’ caution, control and focus while driving, as well as detect collisions, all through measuring a variety of safety factors including speeding, braking, sharp accelerations, phone use, swerving, length of time behind the wheel, and others.

Data from the integration is then analyzed using artificial intelligence algorithms and hundreds of billions of data points to return actionable insights about how and where to coach or reward drivers for sustained fleet improvement; insights provided can be delivered through a dashboard, an API, emails, or text alerts.

The company says the technology can be used by a broad list of industries and products including on-demand services, commercial fleets, insurance, city planning, mapping, driving instruction, roadside assistance, and others.

“Personal car ownership is peaking, and our transportation needs are increasingly served by on-demand and other commercial transport services,” Zendrive Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder Jonathan Matus said in a statement. “Safety should always be the most important consideration in building new models of transportation, and we believe in the power of data to make this a reality.”

Software pitch

Zendrive claims that because it offers a software-based solution its platform is more scalable than on board diagnostic (OBD) systems (that is hardware installed in a vehicle to track it) and surprisingly therefore actually more accurate.

“Hardware solutions are limited to car diagnostics. We use smartphone sensors to understand what really matters: Drivers,” Zendrive claims. “And since many On Demand fleets have drivers who might be driving multiple cars, or driving for multiple services, Zenfleets’ driver-centric measurements are just more relevant.”

In terms of accuracy Zendrive cites a study (pdf) done by the University of Illinois that found that their measurements were as accurate or more accurate than OBD solutions for 13 out of 14 driving risk factors, including a number of factors such as phone use and comparison to posted speed limits, that OBD solutions can’t measure.

Including the new round, Zendrive has raised $15 million to date.

The company says it will use the new funds to grow its team and continue honing its road safety technology.

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