FlightCar, the world's first peer-to-peer car sharing company to operate at airports for travelers, today announced $13.5 million of new money raised in Series A financing. The company will use this funding to further advance its rapid growth into many new locations.
This round of financing was led by GGV Capital, and Hans Tung, Managing Partner at GGV, will be joining FlightCar's board. Major existing investors, including General Catalyst, SoftBank Capital, and First Round Capital, participated in this round. In addition, Comcast Ventures also invested in the company.
FlightCar has received a total of $20 million in funding to date, making co-founders Rujul Zaparde (age 19) and Kevin Petrovic (age 20) the youngest entrepreneurs ever to have raised $20m in total venture capital. They were admitted to Harvard and Princeton, respectively, but instead chose to start FlightCar.
'At GGV, we have identified trust-based sharing economy as an irreversible secular trend with global implications. FlightCar is our third investment based on this thesis. A new consumer mindset has taken hold that automatically combines mobile and local,' said Hans Tung, Managing Partner, GGV Capital. 'Rujul and Kevin are incredibly smart and articulate, and have built up an impressive senior management team with solid prior stints at Federal Express, Starwood, La Quinta Hotels, and Accenture. The company's focus on customer experience and superior business model set them apart to lead this $26 billion market.'
Since launching just 18 months ago, FlightCar has experienced rapid growth with three locations and over 30,000 members. The company has saved its members millions of dollars in airport parking fees and car rental charges, plus countless hours in shuttle buses and waiting in lines, all while providing income to other members of the community.
'FlightCar has proven itself to be an innovative and bold addition to the sharing economy,' said FlightCar Co-Founder & CEO, Rujul Zaparde. 'We are disrupting the incumbent car rental industry, and we are building an increasingly sticky community marketplace for travelers exploring more suitable transportation options. We look forward to bringing FlightCar to more cities with this funding round.'
FlightCar will launch its fourth location this fall near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), and travelers can expect to see FlightCar opening in more cities in the coming year.
About FlightCar
FlightCar is the world's first peer-to-peer car sharing company to operate at airports for travelers. FlightCar's service helps people rent their car to other travelers and make extra cash instead of leaving their car unused at the airport. Backed by influential investors such as Ashton Kutcher, Alexis Ohanian, and Ryan Seacrest, the company is headstrong on pioneering the sharing economy. So far FlightCar has expanded to SFO, BOS, and LAX, with plenty of other airports in its sights. FlightCar's founders are recent Harvard and Princeton dropouts, and the company has graduated from two accelerators: Y Combinator and The Brandery. Vine Street Ventures and Great Oaks Venture Capital are also investors in the company. Follow FlightCar on Twitter or connect on Facebook.