IMPROVED advises Snappcar in its Private Placement by Europcar Group

  • Date January 3rd, 2017
  • Transaction type Growth Financing
  • Sector Mobility
  • Sub Sector Shared Mobility (Marketplace)
Further Info

Europcar Group, the European leader in vehicle rental services and a major actor in mobility markets announced  its 20% minority investment, through its Lab (its entity dedicated to innovation) in SnappCar, a peer-to-peer car sharing scale-up. This investment is fully in line with the Group’s ambition to become a global mobility solutions leader, and providing a good alternative to car ownership thanks to a large portfolio of affordable solutions tailored to every specific need. It will enable SnappCar to take peer-to-peer car sharing to its next stage of development in Europe. SnappCar’s ambition is to decrease by 5 million the numbers of owned cars by 2022. With this investment, Europcar joins the consortium of existing shareholders AutoBinck Group and the Danish Startup Studio Founders who have extended their commitment to SnappCar. The total amount of the investment round is € 10 million euros.

These investors are now joining forces with a common ambition to help SnappCar expand geographically within Europe and further improve and innovate its platform usability and services for its members, by for example, introducing ‘keyless technology’, making it possible to open a car through the SnappCar app. SnappCar is a Dutch scale-up and social enterprise created in 2011. It is the second largest international peer-to-peer car sharing player in Europe with more than 250.000 customers sharing over 30.000 cars available on its platform. Today SnappCar is available in the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden with the intention to expand to new markets.

The average car is idling for 23 hours per day. SnappCar believes inefficiency leads to waste and wants to make peer2peer car sharing generally accepted by millions of Europeans by enabling them to share their cars in an easy, reliable and fun way. For Europcar Group, this minority investment is an opportunity to develop its mobility offer and enlarge its customer base. The Group believes peer2peer solution has a role to play in cities where it can complement the implementation of a car sharing scheme and in areas in which a car sharing solution is today not still economically sustainable. Peer-to-peer car sharing platforms have a strong need for car availability, and with an average fleet of around 214.000 vehicles in 2016, Europcar can play a significant role.

“We are delighted to be acquiring a stake in SnappCar’s capital. The Lab invested in this company as it sees its potential of growth and it allows the Group to enrich its mobility offers and to target new types of customers. We see a great opportunity to help this company accelerate its development of car sharing with a peer-to-peer platform throughout Europe.”

Sheila Struyck

Managing Director of the New Mobility Business Unit & Europcar Lab Lord., Europcar

“We very much welcome Europcar as a shareholder and partner on our way to conquer Europe. Just like Autobinck Group, Europcar has tremendous valuable expertise and knowledge of the current mobility market. Together we can maximize SnappCar’s impact in Europe and, at the same time, further improve and innovate our platform and services for our members.”

Victor van Tol

Co-Founder & CEO, SnappCar