Zoomcar receives undisclosed funding from Chinese VC firm

After raising $24 million in its Series B round of investment in August, self-drive car-rental start-up Zoomcar has raised an undisclosed amount of additional investment from Chinese venture capital firm Cyber Carrier CL, which the company says is “an extension of the Series B round”.

Zoomcar’s Series B round was led by Ford Smart Mobility LLC, along with existing investors Sequoia Capital, Empire Angels, OurCrowd and Nokia Growth Partners.

Founded in 2013, Zoomcar provides users with car-rental services by hour, day, week, or month. Its newly launched marketplace ZAP (Zoomcar Associate Programme) allows users to purchase vehicles on Zoomcar’s behalf and make money from them when they’re not driving the vehicles.

“ We’re thrilled to welcome the Cyber Carrier CL team on board for this next phase of growth in the Indian self-drive space,” said Greg Moran, co-founder and CEO, Zoomcar. “Customer experience and IoT-enabled product innovation will remain our highest priorities as we scale ZAP across India in the months ahead, and our relationship with Cyber Carrier CL will no doubt help us create a leading marketplace experience for both our renters and associate owners,” said Greg Moran, co-founder and CEO, Zoomcar.

India focus

Cyber Carrier, a Hong Kong-based VC fund targeting the India market, has invested several million dollars in 10 Indian firms since the beginning of 2016. In an interaction with BusinessLine earlier this year, Jessica Wong, Managing Partner, Cyber Carrier CL, had said: “We would like to close investments in 12-20 projects this year. We have already invested in Milkbasket and OnionMobi, and will invest an additional $45 million in fintech, B2B, e-commerce, education and healthcare start-ups.”

Cyber Carrier’s first investment in India was in student loan platform KrazyBee, which has just secured a new round of investment by Chinese investors. On the Zoomcar investment, Wong said: “Our investment team is quite familiar with similar models in China and the US. Based on the company’s data and financial model, we believe Zoomcar will accelerate on the path of rapid growth and expansion.”

Zoomcar claims it has doubled car-rental bookings in the past year with a fleet of over 2,500 cars, with over 75 per cent occupancy, 2 million app downloads and users who have travelled over 13,00,00,000 km to over 2,00,000 destinations. Headquartered in Bengaluru, the firm’s services are presently spread across 14 cities. Its vehicle catalogue offers a variety of cars at all-inclusive prices that include the cost of fuel, insurance, and taxes.