Self-drive car rental company Zoomcar has closed funding of $24 million in a Series B investment round. Ford Smart Mobility LLC (a subsidiary of Ford Motor Company) led the round along with existing investors, Sequoia Capital, Empire Angels and Nokia Growth Partners.
Greg Moran, Co Founder and CEO said, “We’re thrilled to welcome the Ford team on board for this next phase of growth in the Indian self-drive space.” The funding will be used primarily for accelerating its innovative marketplace model along with furthering its technological lead. The company plans to expand its Zoomcar Associate Program (ZAP) launched earlier this year which allows users to buy cars registered in the name of Zoomcar and list it on its platform on a monthly profit sharing basis.
Founded by David Back and Greg Moran in 2013, Zoomcar is the first company in India to focus on self-drive car rental model, in contrast to others which have adopted chauffeur-driven rentals. The startup had earlier raised $11 million in July 2015. It operates a fleet of over 2,000 vehicles in 12 cities in India including Bengaluru, Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Chandigarh and Jaipur.
The company has also announced roping in Rajesh Bysani as its Chief Product Officer. Bysani, an aluminus of IIM Calcutta is a veteran with experience in Snapdeal-owned payments platform Freecharge, redBus, BookMyShow and Rediff.com. Zoomcar said that Bysani’s experience and leadership skills will help them improve its product offerings and expand into newer markets. He will be based out of the company’s Bengaluru headquarters.