ULU, the Eindhoven-based connected car company that works on telematics solutions for businesses, insurers, car dealerships and other owners of large fleets, received one million euros in funding. The company also took over Chinese hardware manufacturer Velio Technologies, which supplies ULU with the OBD dongles. The investment was raised by entrepreneur Christian Kerssens and the Brabant Development Agency (BOM). Kerssens will now serve as ULU’s new CEO.
Valuable data
Vehicles create a lot of data that are valuable to companies, insurers, car dealerships and other fleet owners. Via a special dongle, which acts like a usb stick, they receive insights about the driving behaviour of their customers, clients and employees, e.g. the top speed of a car before a crash or which vital car parts are due for a check up.
Plug & Play
You don’t need any special knowledge to install the ULU dongle in your car: it’s completely plug and play. Other fleetmanagement systems must be installed and require a high investment that is not profitable for smaller companies. “With this dongle users no longer depend on companies to install the equipment. This allows us to also offer the solution through alternative sales channels. So the journey registration is not only for sale through our website, but it is also available at the online shops of CoolBlue,” says CEO Kerssens.
Officially approved
Because ULU’s plug & play journey registration dongle is officially approved by the tax authorities, companies can download the trip registration of their employees’ daily commune via an online platform and submit it directly to the tax authorities, which saves time and prevents fraud. Users also benefit: if you drive safe you insurance premium could drop dramatically, and if something is wrong with your car, you know about it before the car breaks down at the side of the road.
“The proposition of ULU fits us well. As an investor of the first hour, I am delighted that we can also enable further growth,” says Miriam Dragstra, director at Bom Capital. Dragstra also says that the development of connected car technology has a lot of (investment) opportunities and social value.