Self driving car rental start up Revv has raised Rs 100 crore in its Series B funding led by Hyundai Motors, the company said in a statement. Revv’s existing investors Edelweiss and Beenext also participated in the round, along with new investors Dream Incubator, Sunjay Kapoor of Sona BLW and Telama Investment. The company had previously raised $9 million in Series A equity funding led by Edelweiss Private Equity and debt funding from Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services.
Revv will use the fresh funding to expand its product offerings for both long-duration and on-demand use cases, strengthen its technology team and build brand awareness. It also plans to expand its geographical footprint to 30 cities, from the 11 it currently operates in, during the next 12 months.
Hyundai Motors, which is the only automotive company among Revv’s investors, says that it will help Revv in development of new mobility service platforms, and product marketing. Revv will also leverage Hyundai for its knowledge in vehicles, including performance upkeep, maintenance of cars and more, according to a report.
The Delhi based company was founded in 2015 by by ex-McKinsey executives, Anupam Agarwal and Karan Jain. The company currently operates in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi NCR, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Visakhapatnam, Mysore and Coimbatore, with a fleet of around 1,000 vehicles. It offers (self driving rental) cars across segments like SUVs, ultra-luxury cars, hatchbacks and sedans for round-trips, outstation one-way, local one-way and weekly commute trips. The company also claims to provide a ‘pick-up and drop’ facility for customers in all its sectors.
Last year, the company also introduced a new service called Switch, a subscription based car rental model that will allow users to own a car without the hassle of upkeep and maintenance. Moreover, in an interview to TechCrunch, the firm’s founders said they are planning to launch a ‘slew’ of new products including, shorter time “on-demand” rentals, such as within 15 minutes, and longer-term alternatives to car ownership that remain free of financial commitments of loans and repayments. In the same interview, they also claim that with these new products on the horizon, Revv will target to increase its revenue 10 folds over, from $10 million currently to $100 million in the next 18 months.
Competition
Revv competes with players like JustRide, Eco Rent a Car, Myles, Voler, Drivezy and Carzonrent, all of which offer self driving cars for rent in the country. However, Rev’vs primary competitor in the sector is Zoomcar, which claimed (in Jan 2018) to have clocked 11 lakh trips in 27 cities since its inception in March 2013. At the time, Zoomcar said that it has more than 20 lakh registered users across the India with a fleet of about 3,000 vehicles. Zoomcar’s USP is a program called Zoomcar Associate Program (ZAP), which allows users as well as individuals to buy one or more vehicles and lease them to the company under a revenue sharing model. Further, Zoomcar also offers two-wheelers for rent, unlike most of the aforementioned companies.
