Bengaluru-based self-driving cars and bike rental company Drivezy has raised $20 million (INR 142 crores) in Series B round of funding from Das Capital. Investors like Axan Ventures, Yamaha Motor and IT-Farm also participated in the funding round. Apart from the equity investment, the firm has raised an additional $100 million (INR 710 crores) in an asset financial deal.
The asset funds will be used to add 50,000 vehicles to its platform via a Special Purpose Vehicle. With the current funding round, the firm has raised $31 million (INR 220 crores) in total equity funding. Drivezy operates in 9 Indian cities including Hyderabad, Pune, Bengaluru, Mysuru, Kochi, Nagpur, Manipur and Mangalore.
The startup will use the funds to enter new markets and its operations in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. Drivezy claims to have purchased 3,000 scooters in a deal with Honda Motors and plans to deploy additional 10,000 bikes and scooters in Bengaluru and Hyderabad by next month.
Since January this year, Drivezy has doubled the number of vehicle listings on the marketplace. Founded by Ashwarya Singh, Hemant Sah, Amit Sahu, Abhishek Mahajan and Vasant Verma in 2015, the startup was formerly known as JustRide.
Earlier in 2017, Drivezy raised $7 million from Axan Partners, Das Capital and IT Farm. Prior to that in 2016, the firm raised $3 million from Kima Ventures, Susa Ventures, Axan Ventures, and IT Farm. YCombinator partners Justin Kan, Qasar Younis and Paul Buchheit also participated in the funding round.
Drivezy will face strong competition from Zoomcar which has raised $40 million earlier this year from Mahindra & Mahindra. Zoomcar is already in strategic alliance with Mahindra for electric vehicles. However, Zoomcar does not offer bikes and scooters.
