DC Inno Beat 3/23: Uber Invests in UMd, DoorDash Launches, ID.me Confident and Cove Expands

By Chris Bing

March 23, 2015, 04:49pm EDT

Spring is here and UMd is out of the tournament; sadly typical. At least Uber has arrived with a $25k tissue to make it all better though...

...Lets get moving

The Big One

Chris: Uber is investing $25,000 in the Startup Shell, a University of Maryland student-run startup incubator and co-working space. It is the first time Uber and a local higher education institution have collaborated on an initiative. Uber plans to lend its expertise to aspiring innovators on UMd's campus as well by offering mentorship opportunities throughout the year.

DC Inno’s Molly Greenberg writes,“As expected, there is a transportation aspect to this relationship. An innovation council will be formed to crowdsource ideas from students, faculty and staff alike to determine research and development opportunities in addition to transportation solutions.”

Reid: This seems to be a steal for Uber and I'm curious to see if there is further investment details that have not been released. $25K is not a small amount for the student run incubator, and it's smart business by Uber to set up a talent pipeline, survey a key demographic, and market themselves on campus.

Making Moves

Chris: Founded in 2013, Cove has already launched eight co-working locations in the District. Now Cove plans to expand to Boston this summer. Like in DC, the Boston site will probably appeal to entrepreneurs who are currently working from home. Cove is special in that it provides affordable rates but on hourly timed rentals. The initial M.A. expansion location — potentially in Boston or Cambridge — has yet to be finalized.

Chris: ID.me is confident after securing a $3M venture debt raise, led by USAA. CEO Blake Hall believes the company could also raise another $4.5M for the Series B/bridge round. The new money comes as ID.me is expecting to close numerous major partnership deals in the coming months. Coca-Cola, Hershey's and TaylorMade were all big wins over the last couple of months. A large component of ID.me’s optimistic momentum also comes from the forthcoming launch of Connect.Gov — a credential broker between identity providers and the federal government.

Eric: ID.me has been having a long run of deals and partnerships in the last year or so. The federal government, Uber and even the Nats have all been teaming up with the startup. Blake's confidence has plenty to back it up, especially as the company adds new features to its ID checking.

Chris: DoorDash, a food delivery startups from Silicon Valley that hopes to compete against market leaders GrubHub and Yelp’s Eat24 through its advanced proprietary software algorithm, officially launched in D.C. today. DoorDash offers delivery services to restaurants who otherwise do not employ delivery drivers. They provide vetted drivers as well as the ordering software to integrate their mobile application and desktop software to restaurants/partners. The startup charges a flat rate cost of $7 on applicable local deliveries within a limited radius dependent on location. For the moment, DoorDash will only be available in NW but it hopes to expand coverage throughout the District and northern Virginia in the coming months.

Eric: It's a great time to be lazy and particular about your food... These kinds of platforms and services are going to have to battle it out to discover the sweet spot between functional services and costs. Nevertheless, the D.C. market definitely provides vast potential for this type of service.

Community

Chris: Round 2 of #DCTechMadness closes today at 5pm. Winners will be announcedtomorrow morning along with the opening of third round polls. Let’s keep it going!

What We're Reading