Photo: Booster
- Same-day fuel delivery service company Booster announced it raised $56 million in Series C funding led by Invus Opportunities
- And existing partners Madrona Venture Group, Vulcan Capital, Maveron, Conversion Capital, and Perot Jain LP also joined this round
Booster, a same-day fuel delivery service company, announced it has raised $56 million in Series C funding led by Invus Opportunities. And there was strong participation from existing partners Madrona Venture Group, Vulcan Capital, Maveron, Conversion Capital, and Perot Jain LP.
Plus Booster is also adding two new strategic investors including Enterprise Holdings Ventures (VC arm of the largest car rental and fleet management company) and Total Ventures (VC arm of the integrated energy major Total SA).
With this round of funding, Booster has now raised a total of $88.5 million to unlock new markets and modernize today’s fueling experience and infrastructure. And Booster is planning to expand into new markets. And the company is planning to expand to the Pacific Northwest and the East Coast.
“Our customers and their employees have been asking us to expand into new markets for quite some time,” said Booster CEO Frank Mycroft. “This funding and the caliber of those behind it gives us the ability to do so, and build the on-demand mobile fueling category we created. We will continue to revolutionize the way consumers and fleets get their fuel.”
Booster is reinventing the way that energy is delivered starting with the $2 trillion gas industry. Essentially, Booster brings the gas station directly to tens of thousands of customers in more than 20 cities. And Booster’s high-tech purple mini fuel tankers and service professionals deliver gas and diesel directly to personal and fleet vehicles.
The modern and mobile approach to fueling significantly reduces road congestion, carbon dioxide emissions, and protects community land and water from the negative effects of underground storage tanks.
So far, Booster has prevented the release of over 2.32 million pounds of carbon by eliminating travel associated with going to get gas, everyday gas station spills, and the need for underground gas station storage tanks. And a May 2019 ALG Environmental study found a significant reduction in smog when Booster was used rather than a traditional gas station.
“Booster has demonstrated the ability to address a key operational and logistical challenge for us – fueling vehicles at one of our large airport locations,” added Robert Wetzel — VP of Corporate Development for Enterprise Holdings. “The end result is a significant reduction in cost, plus an increase in our efficiency. As a result, we identified the potential of delivering this kind of service on a larger scale nationwide.”
Companies such as HPE recently joined the group of current Fortune 100 companies located in Booster’s markets that offer the on-demand fueling service to their employees. And Booster has quickly become the go-to convenience and most favored perk at office parks and corporate campuses throughout its coverage area. Customers are able to simply request a “boost” at work via the Booster app, pin their car location, and get a full tank before leaving the office.
“Unlike other mobile fueling solutions, Booster’s new supply chain and new proprietary fueling system reduces emissions of volatile organic compounds – the compounds that create haze and smog over our cities – by 26% relative to retail gas stations (source: Environmental Benefits of Mobile Fueling, Ashworth Leninger Group, May, 2019),” explained Mycroft. “This means not only do we reduce smog every time we deliver gas, but for every 4 vehicles we fuel, we pay it forward and take the smog emissions of one car off the road.”
And Booster has also expanded into fleet fueling with customers including Stanley Steemer, Two Men and a Truck, Hardin Honda, and Traffic Management Inc. The addition of the fleet business makes Booster a 24/7 operation built on a proprietary FuelOS platform that is designed for scale with sophisticated routing to unlock new markets and historically unserved consumers.
“We are excited to support Booster as they revamp and modernize the transportation energy supply chain,” noted Invus Opportunities partner Bryan Kim. “Booster delivers an amazing experience for consumers and fleets alike while creating a step-change improvement in environmental impact. It’s truly a win-win.”
Booster started its pilot project in the summer of 2015 and it served business tenants at one of the commercial properties owned by seed capital investor Ross Perot, Jr., according to Xconomy. And ever since the company launched its mobile fuel service in 2015, the company conducted over 2 million deliveries to tens of thousands of customers.
“We are tackling problems that require a phenomenally talented cross-functional team across technology, data, operations, safety, policy and customer experience,” Booster Chief Business Officer Deborah Kim commented. “Delivering fuel is one thing. To do so profitably, sustainably and delightfully is quite complicated – but worth it to see the value and impact of Booster on businesses and people’s “
