Zimride is Full Speed Ahead with $6 million

We are incredibly excited to announce that we have closed a $6 million Series A round led by Mayfield Fund with participation from our existing investors Floodgate and K9 Ventures. This is a huge milestone that will allow us to improve and expand the Zimride experience while attracting the talent that we need to grow. And it couldn’t have come at a better time, as we recently reached 100 university/corporate networks and 100 million miles driven within the Zimride network.

It’s hard to believe that less than two years ago we were working out of a cramped apartment, fueled primarily by an obsessive need to reinvent transportation and a scrappy determination to see our vision through. Now we have a nicer office, but we’re still scrappy, and yes, we’re still obsessed.

We have a dream of a world where getting a ride- whether it’s in a car, plane, train, or space shuttle- is simple, affordable, and fun. Humans are social beings and thrive on connecting with others. And as humans, we spend way too much time getting from point A to point B, often alone. We want to make life better by making travel an accessible experience where you can make new friends. Everyone should have the opportunity to travel, and no one should have to travel alone.

And no one should have to grow a company alone. Zimride is getting to where it needs to go because of the support of users like you, our ridiculously talented team, and our passionate investors.  Thank you for giving us a chance, giving us feedback, and sharing your inspiring stories of how Zimride has improved your lives. This has been an incredible ride, and we’ve only just begun. Thanks for joining us on this journey and helping prove that life is better when you share the ride.

– Logan & John

P.S. to join our team, check out our jobs page and drop us a line.

Heading to LA? There’s a route for that

We launched Zimride with the vision of building a new form of transportation by creating a community marketplace for drivers to monetize the empty seats in their cars. Today we are excited to announce the launch of our new public platform focused on popular routes.

Over the last four years, we’ve successfully launched Zimride communities at over 100 universities and companies across 30 states in the U.S. In each of these communities we’ve built up an active base of users sharing rides, whether it has been students sharing rides home on the weekend or people carpooling to work every day. In all, Zimride users have logged over 100,000,000 miles traveled.

But Zimride still hasn’t been for everyone. Today that changes. We are launching our first promoted route dubbed “the Sunshine Route”: San Francisco to Los Angeles. Over the last couple weeks, we have jump-started the route with an incredible team of route builders, so users will have options from Day One. So far during our week of testing, more than 50 seats have been booked and we currently have an inventory of 100 seats available. Seats are selling fast, so if you want a ride to LA book one today before they sell out:

Find a Zimride to LA

And for everyone who is driving to LA, you’ll receive a $20 driver bonus payout along with the money you charge for your seats by posting your SF > LA ride in the month of August:

Be a Zimride driver

SF to LA is just our first route and we’ll be launching more within the next few months. Let us know what you think and what route you want to see us launch next. For users who are part of private networks, nothing changes. You will still have access to your organization’s network to share rides with others in your trusted community or organization. However, private networks will be seeing several interface and functionality improvements over the next few months.

We have a lot more exciting news in store in the coming weeks, so make sure to stay tuned!

Cut the cost of gas in half

Photo by: Nathan E Photography

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you’re probably well aware that gas prices have skyrocketed this past year. But were you aware how much? As of last week, the national average cost of a gallon of regular, unleaded gasoline had risen to $3.97, a whopping 36.5% increase from last year. And that’s just the average. In California, the price of gas hit an astronomical $4.25 a gallon!

Maybe it’s time to consider renaming the “latte factor” to the “gas element.”

Of course, what goes up must come down, right? Apparently not anytime soon. And since we can’t control how much gas costs, most of us are trying to figure out how we can use less of it. There are some interesting ways to help you reduce your fuel consumption, like taking the bus or hypermiling. While valid, these options aren’t always accessible—or safe—for everyone and may not actually reduce the impact on your wallet.

And the impact is significant. The average American drives approximately 13,500 miles per year in a standard gas-run vehicle averaging 25.5 miles per gallon. At $4 a gallon, that’s an average of nearly $200 a month spent exclusively on petrol. That’s enough for nearly two double iced chai extra foam lattes a day!

But what if you could cut that cost in half by doing one simple thing? As it turns out, you can. It’s called carpooling, and we’re rebooting it for the 21^st Century.

Approximately 76% of commuters drive alone. So, why aren’t most of those drivers sharing their empty seats or riding together? Because carpooling and rideboards have traditionally sucked. That’s why we’re building a social network for ridesharing that makes it easy for anyone to share a ride. Whether you’re willing to drive or need a lift, Zimride has you covered. Just post your starting and ending location, and we’ll match you up with others going the same way. It’s really that simple.

We may not be able to fix gas prices. And, unlike a latte, fuel is still a necessity. Fortunately for our wallets, driving alone isn’t.

A version of this post ran on our partner Esurance’s blog earlier this week.

The Zimride Advantage

This week’s BCS National Championship game concludes another year of college football bowls (don’t worry, this isn’t another BCS opinion entry).  There were upsets, heartbreaks, close-calls, and blowouts.  While the games can be hard to predict, hindsight can offer interesting statistics.  The advantage that no one saw coming: Zimride!

Schools that partner with Zimride finished the bowl season 6-1!  This year, bowl victories were celebrated at Stanford, USF,  San Diego St, UCF, UW and UNC (sorry Michigan, we can only do so much).  Two games pitted Zimride schools against each other, so they simply cancelled each other out – props to UMD and NC State on the wins.  Zimride can’t claim credit on any direct impact that we had on games, but it raises some interesting questions about fan support at neutral locations.

There’s no doubt that the home field advantage makes a difference.  Some credit the psychology of the experience for players, but when crowd noise forces the visiting team to take a timeout, it can change the outcome in a close game.  Zimride allows users to post rides to games and be matched up with other people going the same way.  As gas prices creep higher, many college students will be priced out of traveling to upcoming sporting events.  The costs of driving alone or purchasing a bus ticket simply outweigh the benefits of the trip.  When a student fills his empty seats on a trip they intended to take anyways, they incur no costs and are often paid gas money.  Rarely is there a price dispute, because the passenger is getting the deal of a lifetime compared to what they would pay on a crowded bus, making frequent stops along the way.

This is bigger than carpooling.  A recent post on Twitter said, “ Zimride is amazing. I got a ride to airport at 10x lower cost than cab with nicer car and fun chat. The world is getting better and better..”

We can’t promise that your team will win, but when you’re driving to a sporting event, consider taking other fans with you.  Zimride’s Event feature makes it even easier to organize fans going the same way – check out VCU’s basketball page.  A few extra voices in the crowd might be just what your team needs to create that home field advantage.

Zimride is a success at Opportunity Green Conference!

We would like to thank our supporters, investors, Moms, Dads…

No, that’s not how our acceptance speech started off, but in all seriousness, we were honored to receive the 2010 Opportunity Green Innovative Green Startup Award! There were 25 finalists, and all were very cool, sustainable and interesting companies.  Saying that they were all tough competition would be an understatement.

Our very own Lisa Galindo, Account Executive, represented Zimride at the conference and gave a one-minute pitch about the company.  I spoke with her when she returned to the office, and she said that an amazing number of people approached her after the award ceremony, and that the support was electrifying.

You can see her quoted in this recent article saying, “We came to Opportunity Green to collaborate with other credible companies who are focused on sustainable business and solutions and we’re honored to receive this award to further our goal in informing the market that we have this great and impactful social network platform which large corporations and universities can use to really make a difference.”

If you want to check out what everyone is finding so interesting and innovative about Zimride, and maybe getting it for your organization, please contact us at community@zimride.com.