Daimler invests in peer-to-peer carsharing market company Turo; combining Croove with Turo
06 September 2017
Daimler Mobility Services is investing in the US carsharing company Turo Inc., as part of a $92-million financing round. With more than four million customers and more than 170,000 vehicles, Turo is the market leader in the peer-to-peer (P2P) carsharing sector in the US. The round was co-led by Daimler Mobility Services and one of South Korea’s leading companies, SK Holdings. Turo’s strategic insurance partner, Liberty Mutual, also joined the round, as did Founders Circle Capital. All existing investors joined the round as well.
Daimler will combine its peer-to-peer carsharing platform Croove (earlier post) with Turo. After the successful launch of the pilot project at the end of 2016 in Munich, Germany, Croove launched in Berlin in mid-April 2017, as well as in additional German cities. The expertise and experience of Croove will serve as the basis for Turo to enter the German market within the next year. With the launch in 2018, Croove customers can use the new offers of Turo.
The investment in Turo is another step in the implementation of the Daimler CASE themes “Connected,” “Autonomous,” “Shared & Services” and “Electric.” Daimler Financial Services bundles all mobility services under “Shared & Services” - from carsharing (car2go) and ride hailing (mytaxi) to mobility platforms (moovel). Since the end of 2016, in addition to car2go, Daimler has also been offering private carsharing via Croove, to bring together private car renters and owners—irrespective of the brand of the vehicles.
People want access to mobility that goes beyond their own vehicle - anytime and anywhere. We have been meeting this demand already with our mobility services brands—car2go, mytaxi and moovel—for our 15 million customers. The investment in Turo further expands our strong position in the mobility services sphere.
—Jörg Lamparter, Head of Mobility Services at Daimler Financial Services
With the private carsharing platforms Turo and Croove, renters can use the app or website to find a private vehicle that suits their requirements and price expectations, and then rent it. This lets them be independent of a fixed rental station. Owners can optimize utilization of their vehicle and reduce running costs.
Turo originally launched under the name RelayRides in Boston and was founded in 2009. Soon thereafter, the headquarters were moved to San Francisco. Since 2012, Turo has been active nationwide in the US. Since the end of 2017, the UD-based company has also been present in the UK.
I have always maintained that this is a good idea, especially for current generation electric cars (Leafs) with limited range. If you want a long drive, you arrange to swap for an ICE for the weekend.
The opposite may now be becoming true, if you have a diesel and want to go into the city centre, you might want to swap for an electric.
As long as you have reputations and insurance soured out, it could work well. If you look at the number of cars parked at any time, you can see the potential for this.
Posted by: mahonj | 08 September 2017 at 03:04 AM