Chinese P2P car rental service ATzuche (凹凸组车) raised over 95.5 million yuan ($14.7 million USD) via JD’s private equity crowdfunding platform, JD Dongjia, last Friday. Several investment firms participated in ATzuche’s equity-based crowdfunding project, including GEMA Capital Partners Ltd. and Hui Jin Capital.
“That a company met its goal so quickly and set a record is really quite unexpected. It looks like investment enthusiasm is still high,” a spokesperson from JD Dongjia told Chinese media.
Similar to equity-based crowdfunding platforms outside of China, JD Dongjia offers investors equity in exchange for fixed amounts of funding. For example, for ATzuche’s campaign, investors could either contribute 200,000 RMB (about $30,970 USD) or 10,000 RMB (about $1,539 USD). For successfully funded projects, JD takes 3% to 5% worth in equity of the total amount of funds raised. In addition to ATzuche, other projects on JD.com’s equity-based crowdfunding site include Beijing-based hardware startup Nut, as well as investment firms like QF Capital and Buttonwood Capital.
ATzuche’s platform is a P2P service that lets users rent out their unused cars. According to the company, cars on ATzuche are rented at prices roughly 30% to 50% lower than their market price. The company claims that unlike other platforms, which mostly list low-end car models below 400,000 yuan ($61,700 USD), ATzuche differentiates itself by listing more unique and luxury cars.
The company also offers users a number of services, such as 24/7 customer support and roadside assistance, and operates 24/7 in major cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. ATzuche takes a commission fee on rental transactions, and monetizes on insurance and service fees.
“We developed into China’s leading P2P car rental brand, occupying more than 90 percent of orders in eastern China, and more than 60 percent market share in southern China,” an ATzuche’s spokesperson told Technode.
“Customer experience is still the focus of [our] future development. We will be focusing more on comprehensive upgrades on product, service experience, and exploring a profit model,” a spokesperson from ATzuche told TechNode.
Officially launched in May 2014, the company completed a $10 million USD A series led by Matrix Partners China in October same year. In November 2015, the company completed a 300 million yuan ($46.3 million USD) B round of financing from China Pacific Insurance, CSC, Hearst Ventures, Ivy Capital Partners, and Matrix Partners China.
In China, a number of other P2P car rental services have secured funding over the past two years, including Shanghai-based 51auto, which raised a $30 million USD round of series C funding last year. This February, iZuche acquired a 40% stake in Guangzhou-based P2P car rental service Reocar.
Image Credit: ATzuche