Self-drive car rental company ZoomCar announced that it has raised an internally led round of $11 million (roughly Rs. 70 crores) from Sequoia, Empire Angels and NGP. The announcement comes close to their previous funding round of $10 million (roughly Rs. 64 crores) in May.
Greg Moran, co-founder and CEO, ZoomCar said that the funding will be used to primarily add new vehicles, personnel to build out the tech and product offering. The company will use the funds to expand to 15 more cities in India, and add more than 7,000 cars to their existing fleet.
“We’re working on a couple of exciting options such as home delivery, which will really enhance the overall customer experience.” Moran said in a phone conversation with NDTV Gadgets.
ZoomCar recently launched a product offering for weekly commuters, an economic option for those who would like to take a self driving option during the week. “We give them a reduced price, but we offer them lower kilometers, as we realised that people drive lower kilometres during the week. So it is more suited to their daily lifestyle, it gives them the option to take a compact sedan or even an SUV for an affordable price point.” he said.
“Despite adding over 1,000 cars this year alone, we’re still unable to meet the demand for our service with our current strength. From the beginning of the year, our revenue has grown by more than 3x and bookings have increased in a similar fashion,” he said.
(Also see: Renting a Car in India Is Now as Easy as a Few Clicks – but Does the Maths Add Up?)
ZoomCar presently operates a fleet of 1,500 cars, ranging from the Tata Nano (at Rs. 49 per hour) to the BMW Series 3 (at Rs. 220 per hour), across six Indian cities – Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Chennai, and Hyderabad. The company charges higher tariffs on peak season times such as public holidays and festivals.
[“source – gadgets.ndtv.com”]
