Zoomcar

History

American duo David Back & Greg Moran, met while studying at the University of Pennsylvania, where both graduated in 2007. After graduating, Back studied at Harvard Law School and Moran worked on energy financing projects. The pair also went on to business school with full scholarships, Moran at the University of Southern California and Back at the Judge Business School at Cambridge University.

Back and Moran both dropped out of business school to move to India and pursue Zoom. Zoom officially launched operations in Bangalore in February 2013. Zoom started with $215,000 in capital and a fleet of seven cars.

Features and Technological Advancements

After their car booking mobile application, the company recently notched yet another first with the launch of marketplace model ZAP to further improve the customers experience and service quality with Zoomcar. Zoomcar views potential in partial car ownership venture

Zoomcar recently launched Cadabra, its flagship full stack solution for transforming the in-car user experiences. Equipped with Bluetooth and 4G cellular connectivity, Cadabra tracks information that includes fuel levels, clutch position, harsh braking, inconsistent acceleration, seat belt usage, and engine health (among others). The solution also offers the possibility of over the air updates (OTA) and this will help Zoomcar to add even more functionality. Cadabra will be deployed across Zoomcar’s new marketplace program, ZAP in an effort to improve the car ownership experience and help the owner save costs and reduce accidents.

Zoomcar is targeted towards the segment of urban dwellers who don't want to own a car, so, the company has launched KLE – keyless entry, which allows consumers to unlock the cars through an app and can pick up the car and drop them off at various points across your neighborhood. If you can’t find your keys, simply use your smartphone. If you can’t find your phone, use your car keys. If you want to loan your car to a friend or rent it to a paying stranger, you send an access code to their phone. The phone talks to the car via GPRS and Bluetooth. The device sits under the bonnet and doesn’t require any modifications to the vehicle itself.

Investors

Zoom initially raised capital from individual investors including Former US Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, Chair of the UK Institute of Directors Lady Barbara Judge, Vice-Dean of International Legal Studies at Harvard Law School William P. Alford, Wharton Statistics Chair Edward George, and the former Director of the Cambridge Centre for Entrepreneurial Studies Shai Vyakarnam. Back met Summers at Harvard University, where Back was a teaching assistant to Summers.

Zoomcar's institutional investors include: Ford Motor Company, Sequoia Capital, Nokia Growth Partners, FundersClub, Basset Investment Group, Athene Capital, Empire Angels, Venture Souk, OurCrowd, Globevestor., and Cyber Carrier CL. Zoomcar has also raised money from former Infosys CFO T.V. Mohandas Pai and his business partner Abhay Jain.

At Ford's investor day presentation in September 2016, CEO Mark Fields described difficulties with Ford's prior strategy in India, but commented "Our new mobility business could be a factor that plays in there. That's why you saw us about a month ago take an equity position in Zoomcar, which is the largest car sharing service in India."

Partnerships

Zoom partners with the auto manufacturers like Ford & Mahindra which allowed them to become the first car rental company in India to offer an electric vehicle (the Mahindra REVA E2O by Mahindra) and the Ford EcoSport "urban SUV by Ford" in 2013. Zoom also works with locally established real estate developers, universities, hotels, and corporate IT parks to secure parking for its vehicles and offer pick-up points to its members.

In November 2013, Zoom, Uber (a cab booking mobile app provider) and the Ashoka Foundation came together and launched a month-long campaign in Bangalore called RideSmartBLR to encourage car-rental and discourage drunk driving for its health, economical and environmental benefits.

Zoom was a member of Microsoft's Accelerator Plus program in Bangalore in Spring 2014. This program is designed to provide more tailored assistance to later-stage start-ups as they scale their business and raise capital.

Zoomcar and Mobileye N.V., the global leader in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), represented in India by Chartered NextGen Solutions, have signed a joint agreement along with ICICI Lombard, one of India’s largest insurance providers. Zoomcar has also partnered with Ideal Insurance Brokers, a premium insurance broking company that has been conceptualized to bring more order and transparency to the insurance sector.

Opposition

In July 2015, Zoomcar issued caution information to its customers following opposition from the Ladakh taxi union. Following an incident in which a convoy of 15 cars rented from the company was reportedly attacked by members of the union with stones and iron rods, Zoomcar issued a cautionary mail to customers traveling to Khardung La and Nubra valley. The following week Zoom issued an update stating that the situation had aggravated and the company urged extreme caution to customers traveling to the region. The taxi unions of Gulmarg and Ladakh continue to resist entry of non-local commercial cars in the region.

Controversy

In December 2015, the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) banned 54 controversial Indian ads which included a video advertisement by Zoomcar. The ad was found to be in violation of India's Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 by the council, following which the advertisement was pulled off by the company.