- General
- August 21, 2018
- 4 minutes read
P2P car sharing startup Getaround gets $300 million round led by Softbank
Getaround co-founders (from L-R) Jessica Scorpio, Sam Zaid and Elliot Kroo image : Getaround SF based peer-to-peer car rental startup Getaround…
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| Getaround co-founders (from L-R) Jessica Scorpio, Sam Zaid and Elliot Kroo
image : Getaround
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SF based peer-to-peer car rental startup Getaround has now gotten a $300 million round led by Softbank which sees the firm being valued at over $800 million post-money, marking another notable investment by Softbank into the vehicle sharing space.
This round brings the total raised by Getaround to over $400 million from several backers including Toyota, Menlo Ventures, Collaborative Fund, Redpoint, CrunchFund, Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg, former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, David Sacks and several others being previous backers for the company.
“SoftBank sees carsharing as an accelerating trend that will disrupt car ownership”, SoftBank Managing Partner Michael Ronen said in a statement. “We believe that Getaround is uniquely placed to capitalize on this by creating a marketplace that makes it easy for car owners, car renters, ride-hailing drivers, and others to transact seamlessly.”
“Getaround was the first to successfully leverage connected car technology to create an on-demand carsharing network at scale, has proven its ability to effectively expand into new markets, and develop integrations with large mobility partners such as Uber and leading automakers such as Toyota.”
Getaround aims to expand faster and also internationally, making use of this funding to boost its presence, from 66 cities in the U.S. as of current.
With Softbank encouraging partnership across its investment portfolios including Uber, Grab, GM Cruise, Didi Chuxing and Ola Cabs, Getaround stands to benefit from this associations which include major ride-hailing companies across several regions.
Softbank Managing Director and former Goldman Sachs dealmaker Michael Ronen who led this round previously led the $2.25 round for Cruise May this year, adding to Softbank’s portfolio where he focuses on investing in next-generation automotive and transportation companies since joining the firm last year.
