BackSelf-drive car rental Revv raises $9 million via equity
Revv plans to use the funds to expand to new cities, improve its technology platform and launch new products
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New Delhi: Self-drive car rental service Revv on Wednesday said it has raised a total of $9 million in equity from Edelweiss Private Equity and debt from Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Ltd and car leasing platform LeasePlan India Pvt. Ltd.
It will use the funds to expand to new cities, improve its technology platform and launch new products, Revv said in a statement. The service is currently available in Delhi and NCR, Bengaluru, Chandigarh and Hyderabad.
“A vast majority of the 20 million cars on Indian roads are under-utilized, while the demand for vehicles continues to be strong. We believe Revv’s approach to creating use-case based products will meet customers’ needs without compromising convenience and flexibility of owning the vehicle, while allowing for better utilization of assets on the supply side," said Pranav Parikh, managing partner at Edelweiss Private Equity, in a statement.
Started in 2015 by ex-McKinsey executives Anupam Agarwal and Karan Jain, Revv lets customers order a self-driving car at their door steps and have it picked up later from the same place. The company charges on an hourly basis depending on the choice of car, city and booking date (tariffs higher on weekends and in peak season).
Per kilometre tariffs range from Rs65 an hour for a Hyundai i10 or Maruti Celerio to Rs295 an hour a for Toyota Innova, according to the details on Revv’s website. There is a kilometre limit on hourly plans, beyond which a user has to pay a charge per kilometre.
According to Agarwal, Revv receives 3,000-3,500 bookings in any month and has a fleet of 300 cars. It competes with Zoomcar, Carzonrent and Myles.
The company claims all of its cars come with All India Tourist Permit and can be driven anywhere in the country except to Ladakh and Leh in Jammu and Kashmir. All inter-state border taxes are borne by the customer.
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