AAA SoCar Malaysia spins to $55m series B

SoCar Malaysia spins to $55m series B

SoCar Mobility Asia (SoCar Malaysia), a Malaysia-based spinoff of South Korea-headquartered car sharing platform operator SoCar, has raised $55m in series B funding from investors including conglomerate Sime Darby.

Private equity firm EastBridge Partners also took part in the round, which took the company’s overall funding to $73m.

Formed in 2017 by SoCar and conglomerate SK Group’s SK subsidiary, SoCar Malaysia runs an online vehicle hailing platform. Its lead product, Trevo, is a peer-to-peer ride sharing service available in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Leon Foong, CEO of SoCar Malaysia, said: “We will utilise these funds to supercharge our vision of multiflex mobility and bring the convenience of car sharing to more people across Southeast Asia.”

SoCar Malaysia had secured $18m from oil and gas group KH Energy and Eugene Private Equity, a subsidiary of conglomerate Eugene, in a February 2020 series A round valuing it at $118m, taking its total funding to $40m.

SK is the largest shareholder of SoCar Malaysia, and its parent company SoCar counts internet and telecommunications group SoftBank among its shareholders.

By Edison Fu

Edison Fu is a reporter and Asia liaison at Global Corporate Venturing.