Amsterdam’s The Sharing Group backs Austrian e-car-sharing startup ELOOP

Vienna-based ELOOP, an e-carsharing company, announced on Tuesday, March 14, that it has secured fresh funding led by Amsterdam-based The Sharing Group (TSG), an impact investor in the mobility sector. The funding amount, however, remains undisclosed.

ELOOP says it will use the funds to accelerate its growth in Austria as well as expand to the first German city, Munich. Additionally, the existing fleet in Vienna will be doubled. The company will continue to focus on only 100 per cent electric cars.

About the investor

TSG has joined ELOOP’s existing investors C&P Ventures, European Super Angels Club, and Bitpanda co-founder Christian Trummer.

Joost van Rooij, CMO at TSG, says, “We decided to invest in ELOOP, first of all, because the company’s philosophy is closely aligned with ours; making mobility shareable and accessible.”

“In addition, we can gain knowledge about the shared ownership technologies and innovations in which ELOOP is at the forefront. In the longer term, we certainly see opportunities for collaboration with the other mobility companies in our portfolio.”

The Amsterdam-based investor holds a majority stake in the Dutch car-sharing business MyWheels, whose inventory has increased from about 200 vehicles to almost 3000 vehicles in just three years. 

Leroy Hofer, co-founder of ELOOP, adds, “In these challenging times – both for our planet and the global economy – we are pleased to have found a partner who believes in our mission to make cities more livable. With The Sharing Group, we also welcome our first strategic investor in mobility and sharing, who will support us with expertise in scaling our e-car sharing service.”

What does ELOOP offer?

Founded in 2017 by Leroy Hofer, Nico Prugger, Frederic Nachbauer, and Maximilian Schalkhammer, ELOOP is an e-carsharing company. After its successful crowdfunding, the company launched its e-car sharing service in Vienna in August 2019.

The startup wants to enhance transportation and the standard of living in cities by using quiet, emission-free cars. “Our mission is to improve city life by driving change in urban mobility and enabling everyone to become part of it,” says the ELOOP.

Currently, the firm has almost 30 employees, 200 Teslas and an ever-growing community.

Additionally, the company’s ELOOP ONE token, which is based on blockchain technology, extends the idea of sharing even further by allowing everyone to participate in the trip revenues. 

This means, owners of this currency directly profit from the tokenised fleet’s profit per vehicle. The idea is to soon make this available to other mobility providers as well.

Currently, 21 Tesla Model 3 are tokenised and the revenue they generate is stored transparently on the blockchain. The profit generated by these cars is shared 50/50 between all EOT holders and ELOOP.

Users can invest in EOT from as little as €120. Depending on the number of tokens one has, they are entitled to part of the proceeds from trips.