French car startup Drivy doubling rentals annually

French car rental start-up, Drivy is aiming to become the premier car rental marketplace throughout Europe and has raised €31m as part of its plans to expand internationally as well as enhancing its product development. Demand for private car rentals via the internet is soaring in France, Germany and Spain with launches planned for the UK and other European countries. The business has 850,000 customers and 1.4 million rental days so far, with insurance cover from Allianz. This number of rentals is forecast to double annually and Drivy will respond to the growth by investing in mobile apps and peer-to-peer marketplaces to deliver a user-friendly, flexible service and boost revenue.

Founded in 2010, Drivy claims to be the European market leader with 36,000 vehicles on its books, 850,000 users and 1.4 million rental days to date with rentals doubling annually. Insurance is covered by industry giant Allianz.

Its total vehicle base has risen from 16,000 in 2014 but is down slightly from a year-ago figure of 38,000 because of a fleet review that tightened its criteria on insurance status and vehicle type, a spokeswoman said.

Last year Drivy became market leader in Germany through the acquisition of Autonetzer and launched a service in Spain where growth has been 200 percent over the past two months.

Under Chief Executive and founder Paulin Dementhon, Drivy plans to use the extra funds to open in three new countries and develop its mobile phone applications to make rentals easier and more flexible.

"We have brought together the conditions required to accelerate our international development," Dementhon said in a statement.

The fund raising brought in new investors Cathay Innovation and Nokia Growth Partners (NGP). Existing shareholders include green fund Ecotechnologies and French government fund BPI France.

Drivy last raised funds in April last year in an 8 million euro effort. Thursday's 31 million euro injection is the fifth in its history for a total of just over 47 million euros.

(Reporting by Andrew Callus and Matthieu Protard; Editing by James Regan)