Owning a car is expensive and requires maintenance, gas, insurance and a place to park. Reportedly, in San Francisco, a spot in a garage costs as much as $500 a month and a parking spot in the South Beach neighbourhood went on sale for $100,000 last year.
San Francisco-based Kyte addresses this issue by delivering cars on demand to people’s doors for all trips longer than a rideshare.
$60M Series B funding
In a recent development, Kyte has secured $60M in Series B growth equity financing. The round was led by US-based InterAlpen Partners, whose founder, Stephen George is an early investor in Tesla and SpaceX, who joined Kyte’s board.
Other new investors, including Valor Equity Partners, Anthemis (which backed Stoïk, Rentle, and YuLife), Citi Ventures, and Hearst Ventures, with significant participation from existing investors DN Capital plus 1984 Ventures, FJ Labs, and Urban Innovation Fund also participated in the round.
The Series B round follows a $30 million Series A it raised in 2021, and a significant asset-backed debt investment of $200 million with Goldman Sachs and Ares, it raised earlier this year. With this round, Kyte’s total funding reaches nearly $300 million across equity and debt.
Plans to grow its EV fleet
The funding will be used by Kyte to execute its mission further to unlock the freedom to go places. The company will triple its current fleet and expand in new and existing markets globally, while creating new offerings for those looking for alternatives to car ownership.
Also, Kyte has plans to expand into new product categories and add new vehicle classes, including aggressively growing its electric vehicle fleet.
Co-founders Nikolaus Volk and Ludwig Schoenack said, “We’re committed to becoming a leader in the transportation space – on-demand car delivery is just the beginning of Kyte’s journey. This financing will better position us to accomplish our long-term goal of becoming the largest operator of shared, electrified, and autonomous fleets.”
“The team at InterAlpen Partners is looking forward to supporting Kyte’s next phase of growth and joining efforts to make a much-needed industry shift within the auto-mobility market. I am thrilled to join the company’s board and am confident the team at InterAlpen Partners will not only complement Kyte’s Management and Steve Schlenker from DN Capital, but will help the team expand into additional growth and product vectors”, said Stephen George, founder of InterAlpen Partners, who led the expansion financing.
Effective alternative to car ownership!
Kyte was founded in 2019 by Nikolaus Volk, Ludwig Schoenack, and Francesco Wiedemann and is headquartered in San Francisco. The company’s approach increases vehicle utilisation and takes cars off the road for a more sustainable future while saving customers time and money.
Through the Kyte mobile app on iOS, Android, or website, customers can book a car for a day, multiple days, multiple weeks, months, or however long they want. Customers can choose a time and location for their vehicle delivery. Kyte will dispatch a delivery driver called Kyte Surfer to deliver a clean and sanitised car at the time requested. When the vehicle is ready to be returned, a Kyte Surfer retrieves the car from the customer at the location and time they can flexibly choose.
It has offices in Munich, Germany, and satellites across the globe, and currently employs 100 people.
