Self-drive car rental company Zoomcar has closed Series C funding of $40 million led by Mahindra & Mahindra, with participation from existing investors. Note that Zoomcar is already associated with Mahindra for electric vehicles’ push. In November last year, Zoomcar entered into a partnership Mahindra Electric Mobility (MEML) to roll out electric vehicles in Mysore, Karnataka, followed by other cities, which is part of an older deal between the companies.
The company said that it will use the fresh capital to accelerate its marketplace supply growth, improving its technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), and expanding mobility categories across India.
It said that under its Zoomcar Associate Program (ZAP), which lets Zoomcar users and other individuals buy one or more vehicles which could be leased to Zoomcar and operate on a revenue sharing model, the vehicles now account for over 25% of its 3,000 total fleet. Most recently, Zoomcar introduced ZAP Subscribe, a monthly subscription based program for cars. Zoomcar expects this funding to help the company hit over 15,000 subscriber vehicles on the platform before the end of 2018.
The company also expects to increase its cycle count under its PEDL service which is expected to operate across more than 75 cities by year end. In October 2017, Zoomcar launched a cycle rental service PEDL starting with Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata. The company claims, that in three months PEDL has a fleet of 3,000 cycles in 8 cities and has completed more than 4 lakh trips till date.
Zoomcar’s previous fundings
In December 2016, the company raised funding from Chinese VC firm Cyber Carrier CL, which was an additional amount to its series B funding in August last year, when it secured $24 million in the round led by Ford Smart Mobility LLC with participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital, Nokia Growth Partners and Empire Angels. In July 2015, the company raised funding worth $11 million. In October 2014, it raised $8 million from Sequoia Capital, with participation from new investors Mohandas Pai and Abhay Jain. In October 2013, Zoomcar raised $1 million in seed funding, $200,000 from angel investor Raj Kumar Elango, $30,000 angel funding from former US treasury secretary Larry Summers and $215,000 from Empire Angels New York, Lady Barbara Judge among other angel investors.
