Revv, India's fastest growing car-sharing company, announced that the company has secured Rs 100 crore in a Series B funding round led by Hyundai Motor, South Korea’s largest automaker, making Hyundai the first and only automotive company among Revv’s investors.
Revv’s existing investors Edelweiss and Beenext also participated in the round, with new investors Dream Incubator, Sunjay Kapoor of Sona BLW and Telama Investment.
Revv is amongst the largest car sharing platforms in India with a presence in 11 cities, serving more than 3 lakh users. It aims to re-imagine the mobility solutions for users’ needs ranging from “few hours to a few years”, to cater to the vast majority of Indians who do not own a car yet. Its products include hourly self-drive car sharing, one-way outstation car sharing and Switch – India’s first monthly car subscription program, where members enjoy all the benefits of car ownership without the hassle, upkeep and commitment.
With its strategic investment in Revv, Hyundai Motor gains its first foothold in the Indian car-sharing market and is the only automotive company amongst Revv’s investors. Hyundai Motor’s blueprint is to co-develop the company’s new growth engine by developing innovative mobility services that combine technologies such as autonomous driving and artificial intelligence with the sharing economy to transform people’s lives.
“Hyundai Motor India has been growing rapidly with its outstanding performance and has become a strong market leader in India,” said Mr YK Koo, MD and CEO, Hyundai Motor India Ltd. “We are just about to step forward and expand our business into the future mobility field with Revv. Hyundai Motor India will build a prominent system with both ‘Open Innovation’ strategy and India’s fastest growing self-drive car-sharing company, Revv.”
“We feel privileged to have Hyundai Motor on-board for this journey. During the past 3 years of our existence, we have stayed focused on delivering great customer experience through a combination of innovative products suited to the varied needs of users. Strong traction with our users and thoughtful use of technology, e.g. an artificial-intelligence based driver assistance system that dramatically improves users’ safety, has helped us scale rapidly,” said the co-founders of Revv.
“Switch, our car subscription product has been a strong driver of our growth. It was the first product of its kind in India, and currently comprises almost 30% of our fleet. We believe that long-duration products similar to Switch could comprise anywhere between 50-70% of our fleet in future.”
The company will use the freshly infused funds to expand its product offerings for both long-duration and on-demand use cases, strengthen its technology team and build brand awareness. It also plans to increase its geographical footprint to 30 cities during the next 12 months.
The market growth potential for mobility services is stronger in India than that of any other global market, expanding to US $2 billion by 2020. Furthermore, millennials, who are heavy users of car-sharing services, comprise 35% of the total population of India.