Getaround, the US-based on-demand car sharing platform backed by corporates SoftBank, Toyota, Shanghai Automotive and Cox Automotive, is seeking $200m for an equity round that would value it at $1.7bn, TechCrunch reported yesterday.
Getaround refused comment but said it was working with investors toward its growth strategy and would reveal details in time. TechCrunch did not name potential participants in the round.
Founded in 2009, Getaround runs a peer-to-peer car sharing service that lets its 200,000 members securely lease their cars to each other using its mobile app at a $5 hourly rate.
Car owners signed up receive payouts depending on the demand for their vehicles, which are equipped with Getaround’s Connect security technology, making it unnecessary to exchange keys. They also receive automatic cover from the company’s insurance scheme.
Getaround has moved into the European market this year, buying France-based car sharing Drivy for $300m in April 2019 and acquiring Norway-based peer Nabobil in a $12m deal two months later. It now serves Norway, Germany, Spain, Austria, Belgium and the UK in addition to its home market.
The round would follow approximately $396m in equity financing, including $300m in an August 2018 series D round led by internet and telecommunications group SoftBank that included automotive manufacturer Toyota and unnamed “inside” investors.
Braemar Energy Ventures led the company’s $45m series C round in 2017, investing with SAIC Capital, the corporate venturing arm of carmaker Shanghai Automotive, as well as Menlo Ventures, Triangle Peak Partners and Sparx Group, at a reported $176m valuation.
Sparx Group’s Mirai Creation Investment Limited Partnership had supplied $10m to Getaround in late 2016, after a $24m series B round in 2014 led by Cox Automotive, a subsidiary of media group Cox Enterprises, and backed by Triangle Peak Partners, Menlo Ventures and SOS Ventures.