Cardata

Cardata is a Toronto-based provider of tax-compliant vehicle reimbursement programs for organizations whose employees drive their personal cars for work. The company combines software with a managed service: it designs a reimbursement program for a customer's workforce using IRS-compliant structures — Fixed and Variable Rate (FAVR), Cents-Per-Mile (CPM), and Tax-Free Car Allowance (TFCA) — and then administers it on an ongoing basis.

The product set spans mileage capture through payment. Cardata Mobile is a GPS-enabled driver app for automatic business-mileage capture with visibility into trips, reimbursement totals, and compliance status. The Cardata Portal gives administrators dashboards, KPI reporting, driver and program administration, manual-trip review, and approval workflows. Compliance functions monitor insurance verification, vehicle eligibility, mileage thresholds, and documentation standards to preserve tax-free treatment, and reimbursements can be paid directly to drivers separately from payroll. Cardata Intelligence, introduced as a reporting and analytics suite, turns reimbursement data into program reporting. The platform integrates with finance and HR workflows, including a Concur integration, and produces audit-ready records.

Alongside software, Cardata sells reimbursement software, compliance programs, and business intelligence tools, and has offered assistance identifying suitable auto insurance policies for customers' employees, verifying driver compliance and automating policy renewals.

Founding story

Cardata was founded in 1999 by former fleet executives seeking a better way to reimburse work driving and manage vehicle programs, with an initial focus on IRS-compliant program design, accuracy, and compliance rather than software alone.

Business model

Cardata sells a fully managed mileage reimbursement service to employers, combining program design consulting, software (mobile app, administrator portal, analytics), ongoing compliance oversight, in-house driver support, and direct-to-driver payment processing. Press coverage describes it as a software business measured on annual recurring revenue.

Recurring software and service revenue from employer customers; the company reports its performance in terms of annual recurring revenue growth.

Traction

The company reports over $1 billion in reimbursements processed to date, a 95% customer satisfaction rate, average customer savings of about 30% versus traditional allowances and company cars, and a 25% decrease in reimbursement overclaims. At the time of the 2023 investment, Cardata said it had tripled annual recurring revenue over the prior three years, growth of more than 200% in aggregate, had helped tens of thousands of drivers get reimbursed, and expected to reach 70 employees with the new capital.

Latest developments

Following the 2023 growth round, Cardata expanded across North America, adding a Phoenix location alongside Toronto, and continues to publish program guidance including materials on 2026 IRS standard mileage rates. In January prior to the raise it announced work with Trellis, an insurtech firm offering embedded insurance, to help Cardata users find auto insurance savings.