France-based vehicle rental marketplace Drivy raised €31m ($35m) today in a series C round co-led by led by Nokia Growth Partners (NGP), the strategic investment arm of communications technology producer Nokia.
NGP co-led the round with Cathay Innovation, the €250m venture capital fund managed by private equity firm Cathay Capital.
Vehicle servicing and mobility technology company Mobivia Group also participated, through its Via-ID subsidiary, as did Ecotechnologie Fund, which is run by French state-owned investment bank Bpifrance, and VC firm Index Ventures.
Drivy operates an online car rental service with 850,000 users and a network of 36,000 vehicles spread across France, Spain and Germany. It launched a service called Drivy Open, which allows users to conduct self-service rentals and open car doors using mobile devices, in December.
The company will invest the capital in product development and the deployment of Drivy Open across several cities this year. It also intends to launch expand into three more European markets, including the UK, in 2016.
The round brought Drivy’s total funding to €47m since it was founded in 2010. It raised $8.6m in an April 2015 series B round featuring Via-ID, Bpifrance and earlier investors Index Ventures and Alven Capital.
Bo Ilsoe, partner at NGP, said: “Drivy has what we look for in a company; a great product, a proven business model and exceptional management team that has the potential to disrupt the market it operates in. We are thrilled to support Paulin and the Drivy team and continue our commitment to investing in France.”