Fresh off the announcement Tuesday that Daimler Financial Services — which operates Daimler AG’s mobility unit — is forming a joint venture with Via, the captive is now investing in carshare startup Turo.
Turo raised $92 million in Series D funding with Daimler and SK Holdings — one of South Korea’s largest conglomerates — leading the round. The $92 million Series D funding brings the company’s total funding to $193 million, according to a statement from Turo.
In addition to its focus on expansion abroad and deepening its knowledge of insurance, Turo plans to invest capital from the Series D to “enhance the customer experience on both sides of the marketplace, boost customer acquisition and grow the Turo brand globally,” the statement said. Daimler also sold Croove, a Germany-based carshare, to Turo, according to the release.
Turo’s acquisition of Croove provides an immediate opportunity to expand its presence from existing international markets in Canada and Great Britain to Germany and more broadly into Europe. Funding co-lead SK Holdings will also provide strategic support and insights as Turo considers expansion into South Korea and other Asian markets, Turo said in a statement.
“Our interest in acquiring Croove as part of our relationship with Daimler is due to the fact that the marketplace is set up very closely to how Turo is set up, an open peer-to-peer marketplace that provides insurance to its members,” Turo spokeswoman told Auto Finance News. “We will fold Croove’s business into Turo and officially launch as Turo in Germany within the next year. Their experience running the marketplace in the German market will give us a strong foothold as we expand there and continue to expand elsewhere.”
Currently, Turo has more than four million users, adding more than one million in the last four months alone; it also has more than 170,000 cars listed. Founded in 2009, Turo launched under the name RelayRides in Boston but is now located in San Francisco. Since 2012, Turo has been nationwide in the U.S. and expanded to Great Britain at the end of last year.
Meanwhile, Croove was launched as a pilot project at the end of 2016 in Munich, Germany, and fully launched in Berlin in mid-April 2017, as well as in additional German cities. Turo will begin operations of Croove by early next year and with the launch in 2018, Croove customers can use the new offers of Turo, Daimler said in a statement.
In 2012, General Motors Co. also partnered with what was then RelayRides. That relationship has since ended.
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