HopSkipDrive, a Los Angeles-based transportation service to bring children to school, has raised $22 million in a new round of funding. Cyrus Capital Partners, State Farm Ventures, Upfront Ventures, FirstMark Capital and Greycroft participated in the round. The company has now raised a total of $44 million.
Founded in 2014, HopSkipDrive offers an app to schedule rides up to eight hours in advance, matches the child with a driver provides updates on the car ride. Users can set up recurring rides.
Drivers must have five years of caregiving experience, pass a background check, be at least 23 and have a four-door vehicle less than 10 years old. Drivers make an average of $32 an hour.
HopSkipDrive will use the funding will help the company expand into more markets, according to a statement Tuesday. The company claims to have enabled more than one million trips to or from schools. It works with more than 200 schools, districts and counties in eight states and Washington, D.C.
Its partners include Los Angeles County, Seattle Public Schools and charter school networks. HopSkipDrive also works with children experiencing homelessness, in foster care or who have special needs and individualized education plans.
HopSkipDrive isn’t the only school transportation company to intrigue investors recently. Zum raised $40 million in February and Kango raised $3.6 million in June.
