Daimler Invests In Peer-to-Peer Car Sharing Market Leader Turo

Summary

• Daimler Mobility Services has participated as lead investor in a financing round of U.S. peer-to-peer carsharing market leader
• At the same time, Daimler peer-to-peer carsharing activities under the Croove brand will be combined with Turo
• Expertise and experience of Croove will serve as the basis for Turo to enter the German market within the next year
• Investment in Turo is a further step in the implementation of the Daimler CASE themes

Stuttgart/San Francisco - Daimler Mobility Services is investing in the U.S. company Turo Inc., as part of a financing round. With over four million customers and more than 160,000 vehicles, Turo is the market leader in the peer-to-peer ("P2P") carsharing sector in the U.S. The financing round of the start-up has a total volume of 92 million US dollars. The round has been co-led by Daimler Mobility Services and one of South Korea’s leading companies, SK Holdings. Turo’s strategic insurance partner, Liberty Mutual, also joined the round, as did Founders Circle Capital. All existing investors joined the round as well.

At the same time, the Daimler peer-to-peer carsharing platform Croove will be combined with the U.S. company. After the successful launch of the pilot project at the end of 2016 in Munich, Germany, Croove launched in Berlin in mid-April 2017, as well as in additional German cities. Croove is bringing private car renters and owners together. The expertise and experience of Croove will serve as the basis for Turo to enter the German market within the next year. With the launch in 2018, Croove customers can use the new offers of Turo.

Another step in the implementation of Daimler CASE

The investment in Turo is another step in the implementation of the Daimler CASE themes. The four letters stand for Daimler’s mobility themes of the future: "Connected," "Autonomous," "Shared & Services" and "Electric." Daimler Financial Services bundles all mobility services under "Shared & Services" - from carsharing (car2go) and ride hailing (mytaxi) to mobility platforms (moovel). Since the end of 2016, in addition to car2go, Daimler has also been offering private carsharing via Croove, to bring together private car renters and owners – irrespective of the brand of the vehicles.

Jörg Lamparter, Head of Mobility Services at Daimler Financial Services, said about the investment in Turo: "People want access to mobility that goes beyond their own vehicle - anytime and anywhere. We have been meeting this demand already with our mobility services brands – car2go, mytaxi and moovel – for our 15 million customers. The investment in Turo further expands our strong position in the mobility services sphere.”

Turo CEO, Andre Haddad, said: “We are proud to welcome Daimler, SK Holdings and Liberty Mutual to the Turo family. This impressive roster of strategic investors joins our existing investors in fueling Turo’s mission to put the world’s one billion cars to better use, and positions Turo firmly as the global leader in the fast growing peer-to-peer car sharing space. We’re thrilled to have them by our side as we work to reshape car ownership and travel worldwide.”

15 million customers use Daimler mobility services

Daimler is a pioneer in innovative mobility services. With the free-floating carsharing offer of car2go, which launched in 2008, customers have the chance to rent a car at any time and drive themselves from A to B. mytaxi is a market leader amongst the taxi ordering apps in Europe. The mobility platform moovel offers on-demand access to various mobility offers, including booking and payment. 15 million customers are already registered for Daimler mobility services. Daimler is represented with mobility services in over 100 cities in Europe, North America and China. With the investment in Turo, Daimler is expanding on their strong position in the mobility services sector and strengthening one of the four strategic cornerstones of CASE.

Turo and Croove bring private car renters and owners together

With the private carsharing platforms Turo and Croove, renters can use the app or website to quickly and easily find a private vehicle that suits their requirements and price expectations, and then rent it. This lets them be independent of a fixed rental station. Owners can optimize utilization of their vehicle and reduce running costs.

Turo originally launched under the name RelayRides in Boston and was founded in 2009. Soon thereafter, the headquarters were moved to San Francisco. Since 2012, Turo has been active nationwide in the U.S. Since the end of 2017, the U.S.-based company has also been present in Great Britain.