Getaround car-share service raises $300 Million From SoftBank To Grow Its Airbnb-For-Cars Business

Meet the newest member of SoftBank’s mobility mafia: peer-to-peer car rental service Getaround. On Tuesday, Getaround announced that it had raised $300 million as its Series D funding round from SoftBank, bringing its total funding to $400 million. The San Francisco-based startup is joining the ranks of SoftBank’s other transportation bets like ride-hailing companies Uber, Didi and Grab. The investment signals the Japanese internet giant’s growing interest in next-generation car use.  Getaround has raised $400 million in total capital so far.
Earlier this year, SoftBank also announced a $2.25 billion investment in General Motor Co.’s self-driving unit, Cruise. 

"We are confident in our product, playbook, and team," Sam Zaid, Getaround founder and CEO said in a statement. "We look forward to leading the growth of next-generation car-sharing."
Since starting in 2010, Getaround has steadily grown its car-share network to include several thousand vehicles in 66 U.S. cities. In the last year, Getaround has seen a sevenfold Increase in booked hours.

Convincing Masayoshi Son to invest wasn’t too hard a sell given how the SoftBank founder has been viewing the future of transportation, says Getaround cofounder and CEO Sam Zaid. “Honestly, we didn’t pitch it any differently than we’ve ever pitched it. We believe in a world where every car is a shared car,” Zaid told Forbes. “It’s not where we are today, but I think it aligns very well with Masa’s view of the future.”

Nine years since founding the company, Getaround is starting to make a dent in that future. The company allows car owners to rent out their cars to strangers when they’re not using it, like how Airbnb allows people to host guests in their homes. Car owners get extra cash instead of their car sitting idle in the garage, and renters get access to rental cars throughout their neighborhood or city instead of trekking to a rental car counter.

For SoftBank, the investment comes just months after the Japanese company agreed to buy a 20 percent stake in GM's autonomous vehicle subsidiary Cruise Holdings for $2.25 billion. SoftBank also has invested $9.3 billion in Uber, becoming the ride-hailing company's largest investor.
"SoftBank sees carsharing as an accelerating trend that will disrupt car ownership", said Michael Ronen, managing partner of SoftBank Investment Advisers.