Community car-sharing app Karshare has announced a £3m funding round to help it expand across the UK. In addition to existing strategic investors Fullbrook Thorpe and Adjuvo Syndicate, there is also a significant investment by Saracens Football Rugby Club owner Nigel Wray.
Wray said: “We are delighted to be backing Andy Hibbert and his team at Karshare. Perhaps particularly in today’s age this is logically and environmentally the way things are going. Airbnb started somewhere – and who thought that would be what it is today!”
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Karshare is a peer-to-peer car sharing platform in Europe, allowing people to rent their car to others within their community. Users can rent a car via the app and access the vehicle straight away thanks to its keyless technology. The cars are also fully insured through the service, including breakdown cover.
Andy Hibbert, founder of Karshare, said: “The opportunity to share cars is vast. There are 33 million privately owned cars and 1.5m registered vans in the UK. On average, these vehicles sit idle 96% of the time. For the many hours they are sat outside people’s homes on streets and driveways, they could be hired out to vetted drivers in the local area, put to good use and generate income for the owners.
“We’re in the perfect position to facilitate this – quickly, easily ,affordably and with great assurances for car owners and renters alike. The past 18 months has seen lives change dramatically, whether impacted financially, socially or career-wise; a vast amount of people don’t plan to return to exactly how their lives were before.”
In the past six months, Karshare has reported a 45% increase in revenue growth month-on-month and a 70% growth in members month-on-month. Since launching earlier this year the company has rolled out to Bristol, Manchester, Coventry and London.
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By GlobalDataThe funds will be used to expand in these cities, as well as to launch in new locations including Birmingham, Leeds and Edinburgh. Karshare also plans to invest in more staff and expand its engineering team.
