Z?m Raises $19 Million in Series B Funding, Grew 340% in 2017

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., March 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Z?m, a provider of reliable transportation and care for children, today announced the company has secured $19 million in Series B funding. The investment was led by Spark Capital with participation from existing investor Sequoia Capital. The round brings Z?m's total venture funding to $26.8 million.

Z?m provides families with safe, reliable, and cost-effective transportation from screened and certified professionals. The company's services save American families over 100,000 hours of time spent driving children to school and other activities. Z?m has grown 340% in the past year and is on track to complete one million rides in 2018.

Through partnerships with Z?m, over 1,000 public, private, and charter schools in California have saved a total of $10 million in overhead and now have access to reliable, flexible and affordable transportation for students. The company's offering allows schools to scale up and scale down their transportation needs based on number of riders and routes.

"Prior to Z?m, families were spending countless hours driving their children around, while schools were sinking crucial management hours and budget in maintaining ineffective transportation options," said Ritu Narayan, founder and CEO of Z?m. "We've been able to save parents' time and help families decouple their schedule dependencies. We've also opened an array of previously unavailable options for schools that improve efficiency while providing must-needed transparency and cost savings. We're thrilled to be working with Spark Capital and Sequoia Capital to bring Z?m to more school districts and metropolitan areas."

With this new round of funding, Z?m plans to expand its school offering and grow its footprint in select major metro areas in the U.S. in the next two years. The company will also look to hire the brightest minds in engineering, operations, marketing, and sales who are eager to help redesign transportation options for children. Alongside this round, Nabeel Hyatt, general partner at Spark Capital, will be joining Z?m's board.

Nabeel Hyatt, added: "As a parent and Z?m user, I've seen many new opportunities open up for my children, including a wider variety of school and activity options. Every dollar Z?m saves for a school is a dollar that can be spent to educate a child, and every hour we save overwhelmed parents is an hour spent helping to bond and build a family."

"Z?m has built a safe, reliable product and a differentiated go-to-market strategy. Every family knows how hard it is to organize daily logistics for hectic schedules, and Z?m is becoming the leading trusted transportation and childcare solution for families and schools," said Bryan Schreier, partner at Sequoia Capital.

About Z?m
Z?m is the leading provider of safe and reliable child transportation for schools and parents. Z?m is committed to saving schools money and saving parents' time by providing flexible ride options, through highly vetted drivers. Today, Z?m has saved its partner schools $10 million in overhead costs and has helped parents save over 100,000 hours. Founded by Ritu Narayan, Vivek Garg and Abhishek Garg, Z?m has raised $26.8 million in venture funding and is headquartered in Redwood City, Calif. For more information visit www.ridezum.com.

About Spark Capital
Spark partners with visionary entrepreneurs who are driven to move people with the products and experiences they create. Spark invests in companies at all stages of their life cycle. The firm's most recent funds include a $400 million early-stage venture fund and a $600 million venture growth fund. In total Spark has $3 billion under management with offices in San Francisco, Boston and New York.

About Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital helps founders turn imaginative ideas into enduring companies. As the "Entrepreneurs Behind the Entrepreneurs," the Sequoia team has worked closely with legendary founders such as Steve Jobs of Apple, Larry Ellison of Oracle, Len Bosack and Sandy Lerner of Cisco, David Filo and Jerry Yang of Yahoo!, Max Levchin, Elon Musk and Peter Thiel of PayPal, Sergey Brin and Larry Page of Google, Steve Chen and Chad Hurley of YouTube, and Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn. Sequoia is now helping the next generation of innovators build the lasting companies of tomorrow.

SOURCE Z?m