Zoomcar in talks with Mahindra to raise $50 mn

Zoomcar is planning to expand its self-drive car rental service in newer cities; and thus, the startup is eyeing to raise $50 million from new and existing investors, according to a Mint report.

The report added that the company with car and tractor manufacturer Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd (M&M) is one of the interested investors in the startup.

“They are in advanced talks with Mahindra and Mahindra, while there is interest from two other new investors, too,” report quoted from a source.

The startup has so far raised at least $45 million from Ford, Sequoia Capital, Empire Angels, Nokia Growth Partners and others.

This month, Zoomcar, in partnership with Mahindra and Mahindra, launched electric vehicles (EVs) in Mysore, Karnataka. It is now looking to launch electric cabs in Agra, Dehradun and Chandigarh.

After four years of operation in India, Zoomcar is also planning to explore other Asian and African markets.

The Bengaluru-headquartered company is also betting big on Zoomcar Associate Program (ZAP), which allows people buy cars and lease it to Zoomcar for running it as a self-driven rental car, for the next round of growth.

According to the startup, its ZAP major revenue stream model will help the company achieve its target. Over the next few years, the car rental company is targeting to spread its reach in 30 cities in India with a fleet of 25,000 cars for which its ZAP would account 85-90 per cent.

Recently, Zoomcar successfully launched its one-way intercity travel where a user can pick up a car from one city and drop it to another.

Since its inception in April 2013, Zoomcar claims to have made almost 9 lakh trips in 25 cities with a ticket size of about Rs 4-6k on an average. It also says that it has more than 20 lakh registered users across the country with 3000 fleet.

The company is also in talks with various State governments to solve the regulatory issues around having a commercial licence for a private car.