Virtuo Raises $96 Million for Car Rental: Travel Startup Funding This Week

This week, travel startups announced more than $150 million in funding. >>Virtuo, a car rental startup, has closed a $60 million (€50 million) in venture capital plus $36 million (€30 million) in debt. AXA Venture Partners led the Series C round of funding. Virtuo was founded in France in 2016 with a focus on a fully digital experience for premium car rentals. But it is now more broadly a car-on-demand service, meaning it offers an alternative to car ownership in Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. It's not a peer-to-peer service like Getaround or Uber, though. Virtuo manages the fleet and plans to add electric vehicles. Before your rental is due to start, customers are able to download a digital car key to their mobile phone and use it to unlock their vehicle. Cars can be returned to designated parking lots where you just drop the vehicle off and walk away. >>iVvy, a cloud-based event and venue management platform, has raised $5.4 million ($7 million Australian). Thorney Investment Group and Gandel Invest co-led the round. "We are grateful to have the support of two of Australia's premier investment firms," said iVvy founder and CEO Lau