The company also announced plans to expand from a 2,000-car company to a fleet of 25,000 cars.
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Indian-based self-drive auto rental company Zoomcar has found another investor, as Ford Smart Mobility-a subsidiary of Ford Motor Company-has contributed $24 million in funding.
Zoomcar will use the fresh capital raise to develop its marketplace model and enhance technology. Existing investors Sequoia Capital, Nokia Growth Partners (NGP) and Empire Angels also participated in the round.
VCCircle had first reported in July that Ford was in talks with Zoomcar for possible investment from the recently formed Ford Smart Mobility, which will design, build and invest in new age mobility solutions. The Zoomcar Associate Program (ZAP) launched earlier in 2016 allows individuals to purchase vehicles on behalf of Zoomcar, list the vehicle on its platform, and then share the profits on a monthly basis.
Bangalore-based Zoomcar allows users to rent its vehicles for as little as an hour at a time, a model similar to the U.S.’s Zipcar Inc., which Avis Budget Group acquired for about $500 million in 2013. “We first got in touch with Ford (for the latest funding) as they were our OEM (original equipment manufacturer) partners since 2013, and they have known us for longer than the other investors”, ZoomCar CEO Greg Moran, said.
Zoomcar was founded in 2013 by Greg Moran and David Back (both United States citizens). Currently, we have 2,000 cars with a presence in seven cities. Ford was Zoomcar’s initial automobile supplier, and the startup says that the company still provides “most” of the vehicles it offers for rent.
Zoomcar claims to have doubled bookings in the past year with 75 per cent occupancy, 1.5 million app downloads, and users who have traveled over 120 million kms to over 50,000 destinations in the country.
According to Ford’s release, it’s involvement with Zoomcar is motivated by the direct, immediate access it might grant the automaker to the mobility services space in India.
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Currently, Zoomcar services are available in Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Pune. Zoomcar offers a wide variety of cars for self-drive, ranging from hatchbacks to SUVs to luxury vehicles. So the current team of 160 will not expand much.
