Dive Brief:

• Columbia, MO-based construction telematics firm EquipmentShare announced that it has received $26 million in funding to launch a mixed-fleet telematics solution, called ES Track, and open eight regional locations in the U.S., according to TechCrunch.

• The founding round was led by Insight Venture Partners and included existing investors Romulus Capital and Y Combinator.

• In addition to gathering and aggregating real-time data on the location, health and use of mixed fleets, EquipmentShare provides a market for customers to rent out idle equipment.

Dive Insight:

ES Track is envisioned as an entire mixed-fleet solution, allowing contractors to capture machine and equipment data for standardization and aggregation regardless of make, model or use case.

Through the platform, EquipmentShare will provide reporting, data education and utilization recommendations across mixed fleets by building virtual engine profiles that are fed real-time data on fluid and pressure levels, temperatures, engine RPMs and run times, fuel consumption and maintenance intervals.

“From there you can explore the boundaries of the data with the customer,” EquipmentShare president and co-founder Willy Schlacks told Construction Dive, adding that data analysis and reporting is central to unlocking automated maintenance and job performance improvements in machine movement capture.

A key aspect of the EquipmentShare platform is the ability for contractors to identify idle equipment and rent it to other contractors for increased return on investment. The newly raised $26 million will be used in part to expand that platform nationally. While the company has not formally announced new markets for 2017, Schlacks said it is looking toward larger construction markets, with sights set on Seattle, Miami, Chicago, and Dallas-Fort Worth, TX.