Urgently Inc. — the Vienna company that aims to upend the roadside assistance industry — has taken on $75 million in debt financing to further the company’s growth, including "aggressively" expanding the company’s footprint in the U.S., it said in a press release Wednesday.
The financing comes from funds managed by Highbridge Capital Management LLC, Onex Credit and Whitebox Advisors. Structural Capital also refinanced and increased its debt facility with Urgently to $17.5 million.
Urgently's platform uses location data, AI and machine-to-machine communication to give drivers, car companies and roadside assistance providers real-time updates on assistance and provide feedback on an easy-to-use digital platform. Customers can request roadside assistance either through that platform or by phone.
In addition to allowing Urgently — formerly Urgent.ly — to expand the geographic reach of its roadside assistance platform, the company said the financing will go towards new product development, improving its offerings for service providers, increasing “financial flexibility” and other growth.
“This financing will allow us to strengthen our commitment to our partners, service providers and consumers, as we continue to challenge the century-old, legacy roadside assistance model,” co-founder and CEO Chris Spanos said in the release.
In 2019 the Vienna company raised $21 million in funding from BMW i Ventures, Porsche Ventures and InMotion Ventures, the venture arm of Jaguar Land Rover, and others. That followed $7 million in venture funding it raised in 2015 and $1.2 million it raised in a “Pre-Series A” round. It launched in 2013 with seed funding from the Virginia Center for Innovative Technology.
The company says it has 50 operating partners 80,000 service providers in its network, according to the release. It recently began partnering with SparkChange, a mobile electric vehicle charging startup, to add that company's electric vehicle charging service to its roadside assistance programs.
