San Francisco-based Getaround is a peer-to-peer car rental service that has recently raised $300 million in Series D funding. This brings Getaround’s total funding to $400 million. SoftBank led this round of funding with participation from Toyota and several other undisclosed companies. With this round of funding, Getaround plans to expand to additional markets within the U.S. and internationally.
Getaround was founded in 2009 by Sam Zaid, Elliot Kroo, and Jessica Scorpio. And then the company launched in 2011. After rolling out its service in San Francisco first, Getaround expanded to Boston, LA, Philadelphia, and Seattle. Getaround is not profitable yet.
Zaid told Forbes that convincing SoftBank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son to invest in the company was not that hard of a sell due to the investment company’s vision on the future of transportation.
And Zaid said that he did not pitch Getaround “any differently” than they did with other companies. “We believe in a world where every car is a shared car,” said Zaid via Forbes. “It’s not where we are today, but I think it aligns very well with Masa’s view of the future.”
How does Getaround work? The company allows car owners to rent their vehicles when it is not being used just like how Airbnb allows people to rent homes. As a result, the car owners will be able to make some extra money from their idle vehicle. And the renters will be able to conveniently use vehicles near them rather than having to go to a car rental office.
Getaround may require car owners to install a Getaround Connect device, allowing renters to unlock vehicles without a key. This costs the car owner $99 for the installation and then car owners also have to pay $20 per month for the cost of the monitor.
Some of Getaround’s rivals require the owner and renter to meet in-person for the key exchange. Zaid believes that Getaround’s system would is more seamless.
In October 2016, Toyota partnered with Getaround and then became an investor in the company several months later. Uber also set up a partnership with Getaround last year so that people who wanted to drive for Uber could rent cars also. This expanded to a feature called “Uber Rent” earlier this year, which is a service offered through the main Uber app. Earlier this year, SoftBank became one of Uber’s largest shareholders with a 15% ownership.
