What

Driver Technologies is a New York-based startup providing a mobile app for safer driving. Users can record their trip, receive alerts when they’re at risk of hitting an object or person, drifting out of their lane, or being distracted. Founded in 2018, Driver most recently raised a $6 million Venture round in June, with funding from IA Capital Group, Connecticut Innovations, ID8 Investments, Kapor Capital, and others.

Why

To Marcus Newbury, Co-Founder and COO of Driver Technologies, the company’s technology fills a crucial niche. Vehicle fleet owners are looking to acquire aftermarket safety hardware, and often consider expensive solutions that complicate already low margins. A cellphone, meanwhile, is “a pretty powerful” tool with “in a lot of cases, better cameras than any other hardware solution on the market.”

By leveraging the technology that drivers already have—their smartphone—fleet operators can bolster safety while reducing the up-front cost of implementing these solutions.

How

Driver is reconfiguring operations to ensure growth and sustainable success over time. It’s moving to a referral approach through insurance carriers and resellers of safety technology. This way, Driver doesn’t have to hire out massive sales teams of its own, but instead drive revenue through partners’ staff.

“That approach in the insurance industry specifically has been a very easy foot in the door, because insurance companies aren't used to someone approaching them and saying, ‘Hey, we can increase your profitability or add another line of revenue to your book just for referring out technology that will benefit you in the long run,’” Newbury said. Driver’s technology helps insurance carriers reduce costs from a claims perspective, as well as through risk assessment and underwriting.

Driver’s first partnership with Geotab, a leading fleet management solution, proved the need for this kind of operational and sales pivot. With only 20% of drivers using dash cams that connected to Geotab on the back end, Driver saw an opportunity to tap into an existing marketplace.

At the same time, to ensure long-term customer satisfaction, Driver looks to white-glove large swaths of the pipeline. Driver can facilitate the installation of dedicated phones functioning as dashcams, and handles customer service all in-house. “As our usership grows, it's making sure we can continue our stellar customer service, and that's where we want to scale the team,” Newbury noted.

That emphasis on customer service has paid off, Newbury suggested. Driver answers every review, and tries to fix bugs and other concerns quickly. “We work really closely with every single user, whether you’re commercial, personal, or a one-time user,” he said.

Driver anticipates more partnerships in the coming year. It recently announced a tie-up with Getaround. Through Driver’s implementation with Getaround, the startup can engage with seven to ten consumers a week, potentially converting drivers into customers efficiently through one vehicle. Driver is also looking into ways to bring payments into the driving experience, whether paying for gas a pump or going through a drive-thru.

“We democratize safety by providing the solution to anyone with a cell phone, and we think safety is a right, not a privilege,” Newbury concluded. “So we want that to be true for everyone.”