Kyte Raises $60M to Expand on-Demand Car Rental Offerings

On-demand car rental startup Kyte has raised $60 million in Series B growth equity financing, which it will use to accelerate its product development, add to its fleet of vehicles and expand its market.

This round brings the company’s total funding to $300 million across equity and debt, according to a Thursday (Nov. 10) press release. It follows a $30 million Series A in 2021 and a $200 million asset-backed debt investment earlier this year.

“This fundraise will allow us to build out our operational platform and best-in-class consumer experience,” Co-founders Nikolaus Volk and Ludwig Schoenack said in the release. “We’re committed to becoming a leader in the transportation space — on-demand car delivery is just the beginning of Kyte’s journey.”

The company’s long-term goal is to become the largest operator of shared, electrified and autonomous fleets, Volk and Schoenack added. In the release

Today, Kyte offers on-demand delivery of cars that renters can then use for a day, a week or a month. It operates in 14 cities, according to the release.

With the new investment, Kyte will triple the size of its fleet, add new classes of vehicles, expand in both new and existing markets around the world, and create new service offerings that provide alternatives to car ownership, per the release.

“At Kyte, we envision a world where people can go anywhere, whenever they want, at the click of a button,” Volk and Schoenack said in the release. “Since inception in 2019, we have transformed that concept into a reality and have measurably changed how tens of thousands of people travel each month.”

Times change and so has the car market, as the profile of buyers shifts along with cost and supply, FINN CEO and Co-founder Max-Josef Meier told PYMNTS in an interview posted in February.

“In regard to our customers, typically we have a very broad group of customers,” Meier said of FINN, an auto subscription company. “It really starts in the early-20s and goes up to the late-70s.”