UK-Based Car Subscription Platform Drover Notches $25.7M In Funding

London-based car subscription service Drover has notched 20.5 million pounds (approximately $25.7 million) in funding that RTP Global, Autotech Ventures and Target Global co-led, Silicon Canals reported.

Rider Global and Channel 4 Ventures were further new investors. Partech, Cherry Ventures, Forward Partners, Version One and BP Ventures, which are current investors, were also round participants, according to the Silicon Canals report.

Drover will harness the new funding to grow its business throughout Britain and France. It will put more resources into its technology infrastructure and promotional efforts, the reported stated. The company provides flexible car subscriptions that are lengthier than a usual rental but shorter than a lease. Its clients receive a vehicle for a period as long as two years or as short as a month.

Drover Founder and CEO Felix Leuschner said per the report, “Drover’s digital ‘cars-as-a-service’ model is the right approach to truly build the ‘Amazon of Cars’ as it lends itself much better to an online model than does the long-term commitment, high ticket size type transaction of buying a car with cash or on finance.”

To use the service, customers make a profile, add a driver’s license image, search through different choices of vehicles, tailor a subscription and check out. The company then brings the vehicle to the consumers within as short a time frame as 72 hours.

The news comes as multiple automakers have already rolled out subscription ventures to bring in more clients. BMW, for instance, provides subscriptions to cars via Access by BMW.

In July, data indicated that Americans were on the road again over the Fourth of July holiday weekend. More people reportedly traveled overall during that holiday compared to the Memorial Day holiday in May.

The majority of consumers aren’t likely to be in a rush to go on planes this summer. Tourism Economics President Adam Sacks said in May, “Traveling is going to be weighted toward traveling within one’s driving region.”

Seven Corners, a travel insurer base in Indiana, is beginning to modify its offerings to fit the pandemic age. Its ARMOR offering, in one case, is targeted toward motorists as road trips within the country become the preferred model of leisure travel for the time being in comparison to international trips or air travel.