Millennials don’t care about owning a car! So the concept of car sharing, car rentals or even carpooling is getting more popular. After all, there are various advantages of carpooling or carsharing including less congestion, a faster ride to work and back home, less stress and fewer expenses. Why should one own transport for 24 hours, when you use it for only a couple of hours in a day.
To meet the demands of this migrating trend, many startups in Europe are getting into the model of providing flexible transport and they’re now taking car sharing to another level. Let’s take a look at the most successful ones.
#1 Virtuo (Funding – €29.3M) — Paris, France
Based out of Paris, Virtuo offers an online platform that enables its users to book car rental services. It offers its services to travel from airports and train stations. Founded by Thibault Chassagne and Karim Kaddoura in September 2015. Through the app, customers can book, locate and open their car within minutes.
Notably, it offers a virtual key that enables customers to find and unlock the booked car through their mobiles. With a strong presence in France and Belgium, the company is rapidly expanding into other European countries. Virtuo has raised a total of €29.3M in funding over 3 rounds. Their latest funding was raised on Feb 11, 2019, from a Series B round.
#2 Snappcar (Funding – €16.2M) — Utrecht, The Netherlands
SnappCar is the peer-to-peer carsharing community in Europe. Based out of Utrecht, SnappCar provides a full-service solution for sharing private cars, ranging from matching cars and drivers to payment and insurance.
Founded by Pascal Ontijd, and Victor van Tol, the company aims to decrease the total number of cars in Europe by sharing the cars they already own. SnappCar has raised a total of €16.2M in funding over 10 rounds. Their latest funding was raised on Jun 13, 2017, from a Series B round.
#3 Stapp.in (Funding – €1.3M) — Terschuur, The Netherlands
In an attempt to reduce the impact of your mobility on the environment, Stapp.in offers car sharing. Stapp.in was founded in 2014 by car company Brandsen in Barneveld and originated from the idea that car use is in many cases smarter than car ownership. Using a Stapp.in, users can open and close the car at the touch of a button. Stapp.in has raised a total of €1.3M in funding over 1 round. This was a Venture – Series Unknown round raised on Nov 28, 2018.
#4 SoMo – (Funding – N/A) — Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Derived from “Social Mobility,” SoMo is a first-of-its-kind mobility app that offers a range of choices to move from point A to B. Having said that, it broadens options by showing Lyft, Via or other ride-hailing services, not to mention taxis or train or bus routes. SoMo provides a single-app experience, amongst different transportation options, allowing users to book and plan a ride alone or with people in their social circles.
For the first time, users can prefer who they ride with. SoMo introduces a new mobility concept called ‘Gatherings’, an event that is defined by location, time, attendees and intent. This feature allows users to connect with friends and social circles based on common activities and ride together to a Gathering of any size.
#5 car2go (Funding – €70M) — Germany
Car2go offers the world’s largest and fastest-growing car sharing service. With apps available on both Android and iOS, it allows the user to enjoy flexible, free-floating car rental without rental offices or return stations.
Rent a car2go directly from the street and leave it anywhere in the Home Area in your city. Further, car2go carsharing is available in 29 European and North American cities. Car2Go has raised a total of €70M in funding over 1 round. This was a Secondary Market round raised on Mar 1, 2018.
#6 Amber (Funding – €500K) — Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Based out of Eindhoven, Amber provides guaranteed on-demand mobility anytime and is building an electric car specifically designed to be shared. Amber Mobility, founded in 2016 by Merien ten Houten and Steven Nelemans, has turned the car into a SaaS platform. With Amber app, users can reserve the fully electric car, get a notification where you can pick up a car nearby and unlock the car and drive off. Till now, Amber has raised a total of €500K in funding over 1 round. This was a seed round raised on Nov 1, 2017.
#7 VEHICULUM (Funding – €7.4M) – Berlin, Germany
Based out of Berlin, VEHICULUM is the digital solution for hassle-free car leasing. This platform allows customers to compare multiple models and leasing offers in real-time. Besides the price comparison, it also offers additional features such as our contract management, which mainly supports companies with small fleets to manage their car fleet. Founded by Guy Moller, Lukas Steinhilber, and Melchior Bauer, the company has raised total funding of € 7.4 million.
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