The rising popularity of self-drive car rental services in India has led to increasing acceptance of players like Zoomcar, Drivezy and Ola across the country.
This has made the self-drive four-wheel segment turn more competitive and therefore, the need to raise capital for these companies as they continue to grow.
While Bengaluru-based Zoomcar was in the market to raise a large round for more than three quarters, it has finally secured the first tranche of $30 million as part of its ongoing $100 million Series-D funding round.
The investment round, which is led by the Japanese-based Sony Innovation Fund, also saw the participation of a few of its existing investors too.
This large round for the company has come around a year after it raised $40 million in February 2018, in a round that was led by automobile maker Mahindra & Mahindra.
Till then, the firm had managed to secure various debt and equity capital from the parent entity at regular intervals, the latest of which included raising Rs 55.7 crore led by WeWork’s India CEO Karan Virwani in October last year.
With the infusion of new funds, the company is planning to grow its services beyond 45 cities along with investing in technology, data science, and innovations around the Internet of Things.
Recently, Zoomcar was also in advanced talks to acquire its competitor Revv. If this deal goes through, South Korean automaker Hyundai may invest in the merged entity.
Entrackr had exclusively reported this news.
At present, Zoomcar is present across 45 Indian cities with a fleet of 10,000 cars on the platform. Besides self-drive rentals, its shared subscription marketplace model is leading to a mindset shift, where people increasingly prefer subscription access over full ownership of a car.
Ola also jumped into this segment in October last year via Ola Drive in Bengaluru.
