Streetcar, the pay as you go car club, has received £6.4m to increase its fleet and support services.
The funding comes from Smedvig Capital, the London-based private equity company, which has added its own personnel, Johnny Hewett and Rob Toms, to Streetcar’s board.
Streetcar enables its members to book a car online or over the phone, collect 30 minutes later, access the vehicle via a swipe card and then pay per hour for its use.
Members also have to pay for petrol and are asked to leave the tank as full as they found it, company founder Andrew Valentine says he has been pleased that most members will always follow this rule.
Since founding the business in April 2004, Valentine and co-founder Brett Akker have built up a base of over 10,000 members and a fleet of over 300 cars.
The company are heavily focused on London, Brighton and Southampton and claims to have an 85% market share.
The new money will be used to finance Streetcar’s aggressive growth plans, increase the number of locations it operates in and boost the size of its fleet while maintaining customer service standards.
“With membership growing so rapidly, there was a clear opportunity for an ambitious expansion plan,” Valentine says.
“With Smedvig’s involvement we can now put this in place and make Streetcar available to a far wider market whilst further enhancing rather than compromising the customer experience.
“We are confident we can build on the success we have already achieved and are looking forward to having Johnny and Rob on Board.”
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