Bengaluru-based vehicle-sharing marketplace Drivezy is set to raise $30 Mn in a funding round led by an undisclosed Middle East sovereign fund, along with the investment arm of UK-based international oil company Shell Global, Shell Ventures B.V.
Drivezy was founded in 2015 by Ashwarya Pratap Singh, Hemant Kumar Sah, Vasant Verma, Abhishek Mahajan, and Amit Sahu. It offers peer-to-peer bike and car sharing service. Currently, Drivezy is present in 11 cities with a fleet of 17K cars and scooters. It allows individual vehicle owners to list their idle cars, motorcycles and scooters and earn money by renting the vehicles to customers.
The deal between Drivezy and Shell Global has already closed. Meanwhile, the sovereign fund is in the final stages of closing the deal. Several middle eastern funds are eyeing Drivezy as it is looking to expand in the region.
Shell Ventures B.V, the investment arm of British-Dutch multinational oil and gas company Shell, was established in 1996. It has invested in Bengaluru-based solar firm Orb Energy through its New Energies business back in October 2019 in India.
It also runs a Shell E4 (Energizing and Enabling Energy Entrepreneurs) accelerator programme in India, which has hosted startups like Detect Technologies, ION Energy, IoTrek, Trashcon and Ossus Biorenewables. It aims to co-create solutions that have the potential to accelerate energy transition and build a more sustainable India and the world.