Skift Take
Airports are never easy to work with and require cutting through red tape longer than any distance a traveler can drive in a Turo rental. Focusing on connecting travelers with cars outside the airport environment introduces more personality into the company and allows it to better compete with ride-hailing app giants like Uber.
Each week we roundup the latest crop of travel startups that have received or announced funding that week. The total amount raised this week was $47 million.
Here is one company that announced it raised funding this week, and you can see previous roundups here.
>>Turo (formally RelayRides) raised a $47 million Series C round from new investor Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers bringing the San Francisco-based startup’s total funding to $95 million.
Turo is a peer-to-peer car rental network in the U.S. and available in more than 2,100 cities and at 300 airports across the country. RelayRides’ rebrand to Turo comes as the startup shifts focus away from airports given that 60 percent of its revenue now comes from out-of-town travelers who are renting the cars of people who are themselves flying out of town.
Turo requires a one-day minimum and says the average rental period is 5.5 days. It takes 25 percent from each rental from the car owners (who set their own price) and it takes another 10 percent of the total trip price from those renting and makes more money by charging users for additional insurance protection.
The Daily Newsletter
Our daily coverage of the global travel industry. Written by editors and analysts from across Skift’s brands.
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Photo credit: Turo is the rebranded version of RelayRides, which is a peer-to-peer car rental company. Turo