Mahindra to lead $500 million Series E funding in ZoomCar: Report

ZoomCar could get a $500 million push from a fresh round of funding (Series E) led by Mahindra, reported Mint. ZoomCar is a self-drive-focused car rental company allowing individuals to rent vehicles by the hour, day, and week.

The company has raised $103.8 million as yet, according to CrunchBase. Last year, M&M had pumped in up to Rs 176 crore in Zoomcar India and Zoomcar Inc, its US incorporated holding parent company.

The US-headquartered company has attracted interest from Tata Motors too.

The auto major tied up with the mobility start-up in 2018 to offer Tata Tigor electric vehicles (EVs) in Pune.

Mahindra has been keen to invest in the shared mobility space as a part of its strategy to promote and participate in sustainable mobility solutions, including multi-modal urban mobility.

ZAP Subscribe is the flagship fractional sharing programme of Zoomcar where one can subscribe a car for 6, 12 or 24 months and technically have the flexibility of having a new car whenever they want.

ZAP Subscribe is a revolutionary way to get a personal car, without the hassles of down payment, service, and insurance and the subscription model will help introduce additional flexibility and convenience for renters to have easy access to cars in their neighbourhood, said the company.

Customers need to pay a monthly subscription fee for using the services and need to register themselves, select the vehicle of their choice and reserve it by paying a refundable security deposit of Rs 2,100 only.

Once the car is secured, a one-month payment needs to be done in advance. The car is then delivered within 48 hours of successful payment.

Subscribers can list the car on ZAP when the car is idle, by sharing the car with other customers one can save on the monthly subscription fees, it said.

A majority of the subscriber base comes from working-class professionals and small and medium scale business people, while the largest OEM partners for subscription model cars are Maruti, Hyundai, Ford, Mahindra and Tata.

The model has been successful in over 35 cities including Coimbatore, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru with more than 1,000 subscribers making more than 25 per cent of the Zoomcar's fleet via subscribed cars.