Car-Sharing Startup Drivezy Raises $100M For US Expansion

Drivezy, the car-sharing startup based in India, is in the process of raising $100 million in equity funding and $400 million in asset financing as it seeks to expand.

According to a report in TechCrunch citing the company, the $400 million in asset financing will go to build its inventory that is combined with the vehicles users provide. Per the report, Drivezy said the capital raise will be a Series C round and that it’s being raised with a valuation of $400 million. The round is staying open for around a year, said Ankur Sengupta, head of business development at the company, who said the company will continue to raise money on an ongoing basis. The valuation will change according to those efforts, the executive said. “The valuation we are working at now is $400 million, but we will keep accepting investments, at different valuations,” he said.

While Drivezy would not identify the investors, the startup it did say the round will include a big Japanese investor as well as investors from the U.S., China and Singapore. Yamaha Motor Company, Axan Partners and IT-Farm, as well as Y-Combinator, are previous backers of the startup, noted the report. Three months prior the company raised $20 million in venture funding led by Das Capital. The Series B funding raising was in conjunction with raising $100 million in asset financing.

Drivezy plans to use the proceeds to bring its business to other markets, both developed and developing, including the U.S. Its launch outside of India — where car ownership is rare — comes at a time when many are predicting car ownership will see a precipitous drop in demand. Thanks to ridesharing services that make it cheap and easy to get a ride, Americans are rethinking car ownership. Drivezy is aiming to take advantage of that. It plans to kick off its first tests in the U.S. in April.

“People have an aspirational needs, they want better cars, BMWs, and Audis for example, and there are no companies tackling the issue of bringing the cost of renting these models down,” Sengupta said in the report.