United Arab Emirates-based on-demand car hire service Ekar has completed a $17.5m series B round that included diversified conglomerate Al Yemni Group, Wamda reported on Sunday.
Startup builder Polymath Ventures led the round, which formally closed in June 2019 and which also featured private equity and investment advisory business Audacia Capital.
Founded in 2015, Ekar runs a car rental service with more than 75,000 members, allowing motorists to select, hire and unlock a vehicle from its fleet using a mobile app and then pay either a flexible hourly or daily rate.
Ekar currently operates only in the UAE but will soon launch in Saudi Arabia with a 600-vehicle fleet in the city of Riyadh, before moving into other Saudi cities such as Dammam, Medina, Jeddah, Mecca and King Abdullah Economic City.
The company also plans to roll out its service in other countries across the Gulf region on the way to boosting its membership to more than 1 million by 2021. Audacia Capital had previously paid an undisclosed sum for a 25% stake in Ekar in early 2017, according to Entrepreneur Middle East.
Vilhelm Hedberg, Ekar’s co-founder and chief executive, said: “Today, Ekar UAE services 50,000 bookings per month, a number which we expect to quadruple over the next 12 months as we launch services across cities in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries.”