CIP Capital has formed eDriving LLC a new platform company that combines I Drive Safely, a current CIP Capital portfolio company, and recently acquired DriversEd.com, a provider of online and behind-the-wheel driver education services.
Through the combination, eDriving will provide online driver’s education, defensive driving education, behind-the-wheel training and fleet driving safety. The company also has more than 110 DriversEd.com branded cars that allow eDriving to provide both online driver education and behind-the-wheel driver training. Customers include teenagers, adults, contract drivers and corporations. The company has approximately 400 employees and will be headquartered in Oakland, CA and Carlsbad, CA with other local offices throughout the United States (www.edriving.com) (www.idrivesafely.com) (www.driversed.com).
According to CIP Capital, eDriving is positioned at the convergence of several trends: the growth of online education, the growing marketplace connecting drivers to new business models, the growth of apps and wearable devices to capture and control personal data and behavior, and the growing public focus on mitigating distracted and unsafe driving.
With the formation of eDriving, CIP Capital also initiated a series of management changes. Celia Stokes joined eDriving in January 2015 as its new Chief Executive Officer. George Montgomery, the previous CEO of I Drive Safely, has been named as the company’s Chairman of the Board.
Ms. Stokes most recently served as the interim President of Envision Experience. She spent the previous eight years as EVP and Chief Marketing Officer at K12 Inc., a provider of online education curriculum and technology services to students and state and local governments. “I am excited to lead eDriving and accelerate growth through the combination of the two leading brands in a very dynamic market,” said Ms. Stokes. “We are extremely well positioned against the fascinating ‘drivatization’ trend happening not just in the US but around the world that is delivering driving-centered business models at a pace and scale unimaginable a few years ago.”
In addition, Lowell Orelup has joined eDriving as Chief Marketing Officer. Mr. Orelup was most recently Vice President of Marketing for Lending Tree, an online lender exchange.
CIP Capital invests from $25 million to $75 million of equity in companies that have revenues of $25 million to $100 million and EBITDA of $7 million to $20 million. A typical transaction size for the firm will be from $50 million to $150 million. Sectors of interest include B2B information management – brands providing subscription-based proprietary content or “must-have” information; Tech-enabled services – outsourcing of operations and processes of specific business functions to value-added third parties; Marketing services – data management tools and analytics used to target, acquire and retain customers; and Knowledge services – service providers to the education industry (childcare, K-12 and post-secondary) and corporate training. CIP Capital is headquartered in New York (www.cip-capital.com).
© 2015 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 1-21-15
