Zoomcar closes $11 million in funding
New Delhi self-drive car rental company Zoomcar has closed $11 million funding round from Nokia Growth Partners and existing investors Sequoia Capital and Empire Angels. The company currently has a fleet of more than 1,500 cars and 250 pickup locations in 6 cities. CEO Greg Moran said in a statement, "Over the next year we expect to add more than 7000 cars and we expect to launch in 15 more cities across India."
NEW DELHI: Self-drive car rental company Zoomcar has closed $11 million in funding from Nokia Growth Partners and existing investors Sequoia Capital and Empire Angels "We will use the funding primarily to add new vehicles, continue hiring and continue to build out the tech and product," co-founder and CEO Greg Moran said.The company separately raised $1 million in venture debt from InnoVen, formerly Silicon Valley Bank India.Zoomcar’s current backers include Infosys ex-CFO Mohandas Pai, former US Treasury secretary Larry Summers and British businesswoman Lady Barbara Judge. Most recently, Zoomcar raised $8 million (about Rs 50 crore) from investors led by Sequoia Capital last October.Zoomcar has a fleet of more than 1,500 cars across 250 pickup locations and six cities."Over the next year, we expect to add more than 7,000 cars and we expect to launch in 15 more cities pan-India," Moran said.Zoomcar was founded in Bengaluru in 2012 with the aim of becoming the Indian equivalent of US-based Zipcar, the car-sharing and car club service company.Co-founder David Back, 30, who holds a law degree from Harvard, wrote the business plan for Zoomcar as an independent research paper and later dropped out of business school at Cambridge to start the company with Moran."Zoomcar created the self-drive car rental market in India and now that is a booming segment. Zoom remains the dominant market leader in size, brand, technology, convenient locations, business partnerships, customer experience and loyal members," Back said.Back resigned from Zoomcar earlier this year, citing personal reasons, and moved back to the US. He is still on the company’s board and holds his stake.India’s self-drive car segment is heating up, with longstanding car rental company Carzonrent entering the space and mobility provider Formula Group having announced its self-drive offering earlier this month. Zoomcar is active in Bengaluru, Pune, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad.