The UK car hire scene is fascinating of late, with new startups entering the space on what seems like a daily occurrence. As a country at the forefront of digital and business innovation, it is no wonder why!
Just this week, we hear the news that Virtuo, a British car hire firm, is setting its sights on expansion, having raised a huge £17.3M in their latest funding round.
This big push in 2019 has been made possible by funders Iris Capital, Balderton Capital and Raise Ventures; all of which have pledged money in favour of the business’ success and growth.
According to sources, the money will be spent on making the London firm a pan-European company. This will involve further movements into Spain, Germany, France and Belgium.
The company was said to be born out of the founders’ frustrations with the current car hire market, believing it to be overcomplicated and not favouring the consumer. Through the application of cutting-edge technology and modern business practice, Virtuo enables people to hire luxury Mercedes such as GLAs through their app.
Boasting locations across London, Virtuo claims to be growing at a rate of 200% a year!
Karim Kaddoura, the Co-founder of Virtuo, said:
“Now is the right time for this investment, because we want to revolutionise car rental across Europe and show that with our service, there is simply no need to own a car anymore.
“Travel outside cities in many European countries is not well served. Here in the UK, the railways are becoming less efficient and increasingly expensive. We want to show a younger generation that cars are still a really convenient and cheap way to travel and that you don’t need to own a vehicle to be able to have on-demand and hassle-free access to it.”
Here at Anything for Hire, we wish Virtuo the best of luck with their plans for 2019.
What are your thoughts, is Virtuo the answer to modern car hire?
