ping raises $5 million

Voice platform for commercial drivers ping has raised $5 million in a Seed round that included Valor Siren Ventures and Ash Creek Capital Advisors as participants.

Founded in 2016, ping’s messageLOUD is a patented app that automatically reads text messages, emails, WhatsApp, Slack and all other message types out loud without any action from the user. Built for enterprise clients, ping reads all message types hands-free and eyes-free in 105 languages, and delivers comprehensive usage and driving behavior data.

“ping has created unique technology to bring efficiency, cost savings, safety and data to the gig economy. We are incredibly excited to be able to contribute to this purposeful journey.” – Jonathan Shulkin, Fund Manager at Valor Siren Ventures and Co-President at Valor Equity Partners.

According to the company, by adding ping to insurance and gig driver apps, users enjoy an enhanced driving experience:

• Robust voice assistant: automatically reads important messages.
• Easily configures which messages to read and for how long.
• Simple voice commands to skip, pause, delete or mark messages as unread.
• Runs in the background when using maps, music or gig apps.

“Our mission is to get every driver home safely. We designed ping’s voice functionality to add considerable value to gig drivers and other commercial vehicle apps. AI-driven telematics coaches drivers, and provides extensive driving data to the organization.” – Garin Toren, CEO of ping.

Bottom Line: You can become a partner here.