Getaround, the American leader in car-sharing has just announced the acquisition of Drivy, Europe’s leading car-sharing platform, for $300m.
By combining the strengths and geographic footprint of the two companies, the combined companies form a world leader in car sharing, with a community of more than 5 million users sharing 62,000 vehicles, 11,000 of which are connected and self-service in 300 cities in the United States and Europe.
“We are delighted to join forces with Drivy to bring us closer to our goal of a world in which all vehicles are connected and shared,” said Sam Zaid, founder and CEO of Getaround.
“Thanks to the outstanding work of our team, Drivy has become the largest car-sharing platform in Europe. By replacing the individual car in large cities, car-sharing meets the demand for instant and flexible transport offers while making cities more sustainable by ridding them of unnecessary vehicles and helping to reduce congestion and pollution. Having connected technology, a smooth user experience and a dense fleet is essential to make using a shared car more convenient than owning your own vehicle. Getaround is the ideal partner to achieve this goal, as our companies are similar yet complementary in many aspects of our business, such as geography and fleet acquisition. I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish together,” said Paulin Dementhon, founder and CEO of Drivy.
Getaround is the US leader in car-sharing that allows users to instantly locate and unlock cars using their smartphone, making car-sharing accessible to the greatest number of people at any time of the day. Headquartered in San Francisco, Getaround has thousands of cars available in 140 major cities across the United States. Getaround’s investors include SoftBank, Menlo Ventures, Braemar Energy Ventures, Asset Plus, Triangle Peak Partners, SPARX Group, Toyota Motor Corporation, Cox Automotive Inc. and SAIC Capital.
Drivy, founded in 2010 by Paulin Dementhon, is the leading car-sharing platform in Europe, with more than 2.5 million users and 55,000 cars shared in 6 countries. The Drivy application allows city dwellers to find a car down the road, open it with their smartphone and use it for a few hours or a few days.
The start-up, which has 130 employees in its offices in Paris, London, Barcelona and Berlin, has raised €47 million from major investment funds or VCs in the Technology and Mobility sector: Alven, Index Ventures, Via ID, Cathay Innovation, BpiFrance, NGP Capital and Wind Capital.
Via ID is pleased to remain a shareholder of this world leader on a subject it has been supporting since 2011 and which is clearly one of the key solutions of smart city.
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