Movacar crowdsources drivers by marketing vehicle transfers as one-way rentals for 1€ to users, saving fleet operators up to 50% in logistic cost. Their win-win proposition delivers significant savings to fleet operators by monetizing unused capacities of their vehicle logistics (empty seats) and creating unbeatable travel options from city to city for their users. Find out more about their funding round on Leapfunder, their new customer Europcar & their mobile app.

1. Hi Karl, thank you for agreeing to do the interview. Could you tell us what’s new with Movacar, how’s the company doing lately?

It’s been a very interesting year. Fortunately, restrictions on individual mobility we saw last year are largely behind us, as travel behaviour returns to prior levels, which is positive for the demand side of our business. However, we believe the ripple effects of the pandemic will be felt for some time. 

For example, the chip-related disruption of new car production is affecting fleet operators to a great degree. Lacking new car stock, the rental industry needs to extend hold times and explore other alternatives to manage fleet utilization, such as shifting the existing fleet to meet the demand. This plays nicely into our value proposition, as our driver recruitment model comes without the cost-restraints of minimum wage. It’s simply much more cost-effective to have a customer move a car than paying a driver to perform the same job. We continue to invest in technology on the B2B side, not only to make the order process for our rental partners more efficient but also to address the need for more effective fleet-rebalancing features in the current context.

2. You have a live round on Leapfunder at the moment. What kind of investors are you looking to attract? What do you expect from the round?

Having successfully completed two rounds on Leapfunder over the last two years, we have a broad base of investors, each bringing different skill sets and levels of support to the table. Ideally, we want to attract investors that can contribute in their respective fields of expertise, such as marketing, online travel or digital platforms; though an active role is not a requirement for investment. 

Interest level is high for the current round: after two weeks we’ve already raised 50% of our target on Leapfunder from a mixture of current and new investors.

3. You recently landed Europcar as a customer. Congratulations! Tell us more about the collaboration.

Europcar as the European market leader is a very strong partner for us. The team is motivated not only to reduce logistic costs but also to develop more efficiency in fleet management – we are supporting them in doing both. Currently, we’re working closely with the team on developing fleet rebalancing technology to manage this process more effectively. 

Due to our prior operational experience with Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Eustach and I are well versed in the ins and outs of fleet planning and are able to consult our partners at eye level when it comes to identifying new opportunities to increase efficiency and save cost. Combined with the continued development of our B2B technology, we have a solid value proposition for a solution that helps our partners concentrate on their core business and ensures that we can scale efficiently at the same time. 

Here’s a copy of our recent joint press release. 

4. The Movacar app is live. Tell us more about it. What do users need to know?

Our B2C App for iOS and Android offers similar functionality as our website to book rentals, in addition to some new features:

• Popular Routes – all available offers on a particular day shown on a map 
• New Trips – push notifications for customizable route alerts so our users can enter their favourite routes, sit back and wait for great deals on one-way car rentals
• User accounts – for easier management of personal information, bookings and route alerts
• Chat – instant support for our users for any questions they may have along the way

5. What are your plans for the upcoming months? 

We’ll continue to focus on our technology both B2B and B2C as we develop our marketing channels and bring more rental partners on board to ensure that our users find a relevant supply of great travel deals from city to city.

Thanks a lot for sharing these updates with us. We wish Movacar the best of luck.

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