Parisian startup Virtuo is the first player on its market to offer 100% paperless car rental services, eliminating rental desks through a mobile app.
Founded in 2016, the startup has just raised €20 million in Series B funding led by Iris Capital with participation from RAISE Ventures and Balderton Capital. With operations in France, Belgium and the UK, Virtuo has raised almost €30 million to date to digitise the car rental industry across Europe.
Virtuo is a next-generation car rental service, with a fleet of connected vehicles accessible 24/7 through its app. Through its fully digital rental process, customers can book, pick up and return vehicles freely – using scanned copy of their driving licenses and digital keys in any of Virtuo’s 30 rental stations located in city centres, rail stations and airports in France, Belgium and the UK.
The new funding round will support the startup’s growth in the markets where it already operates: France, Belgium, and the UK. The company also plans to launch its service in Spain and Germany in 2019, and is considering a move to the US market.
Virtuo also plans to use the new funds to invest in R&D and step up its innovation by introducing new features, as well as to expand its premium fleet from 1,000 available vehicles to 3,000 by the end of the year, and to grow its workforce from 45 to 90 by the end of the year.
“The past two years have been very busy for Virtuo with a strong growth and expansion in two new markets,” said Thibault Chassagne, Virtuo co-founder & CEO. “These achievements let us put our rental model to test while confirming that it meets customers’ needs. This new funding round will help us roll out our service model at the European scale, facilitating travel for a maximum number of users.”
“Shared mobility and its democratized access are key for the European market and we have a sharp eye on new companies disrupting the travel industry, especially when they offer a 100% digital service and a guarantee of high-quality service,” said Stéphane Pesqué, Partner at Iris Capital. “Virtuo is at the very heart of this new industry and we are proud to support its ambition to become the European leader.”