BusRight, a digital school bus route planning and management solution, announced that it has raised $2.5 million in seed funding. Underscore VC and Long Journey Ventures co-invested in the company founded and led by Northeastern University senior Keith Corso.
"After years of riding school buses, I realized how crucial bus operations were to the success of K-12 institutions; there is so much room for improvement in the system that mobilizes our nation's future," said Keith Corso, founder and CEO, BusRight. "The nation's school bus fleet is begging for an upgrade, especially when routing software, vehicle tracking applications and driver navigation technology is commonplace elsewhere in the ground transportation market. Partnering with Underscore, Long Journey Ventures, and Paul English, the founder of Kayak, will allow us to scale our operation nationally, and bring student transportation into the 21st century."
"The minute we met Keith we knew we wanted to invest. It is rare to find a founder with a combination of tenacity, curiosity, and smarts like Keith," said Lee Jacobs, partner, Long Journey Ventures. "We are thrilled to back him and excited that he is working on an often overlooked yet crucial part of our country's infrastructure."
About BusRight
BusRight offers drivers real-time turn-by-turn directions to accurately mobilize students to and from school each day. If buses are delayed, parents and school administrators are notified at the touch of a button. It includes:
- A centralized solution for administrators, which replaces having to work with multiple vendors for planning, tracking and updating routes, GPS, and parent communications.
- Turn-by-turn, route-specific navigation for bus drivers, which replaces unsafe and outdated physical paper route sheets.
- Increased peace of mind for parents, as they can see exactly where their child/children are when on their way to and from school.
"We have relied on pen and paper and antiquated, inadequate software for years, which is risky, given the extreme temperatures in Massachusetts that make it nearly impossible for students to stand outside during the winter," said Dana Cruikshank, transportation director at Beverly Public Schools in Massachusetts. "We needed automated tools for our bus routing processes, tablets for drivers that give them dynamic directions, and student ridership counts, and also provides real time communication with our parents. Communication has been especially critical this year, as Covid has forced us to run multiple routes with varying schedules. We were attracted to BusRight's technology given its ability to improve routing efficiency, enhanced riders' experience, and increased parent satisfaction."
