Car-sharing startup Turo has raised $250 million in a Series E round of funding from IAC, the internet media company that owned and spun out Match.com, and OKCupid. This round pushes Turn into Unicorn territory, with its valuation now “past the billion-dollar” mark according to Turo CEO Andre Haddad.
This late round of funding brings the company’s total to nearly $450 million, raised across multiple rounds since its founding as Relay Rides in 2009. The company plans to use the investment to fuel its growth, further refine the customer experience aspect of its product and generally support its overall mission of increasing utilization rates for the over one billion cars currently estimated to be on the road around the world today.
IAC makes sense as a strategic partner for Turo because of its proven track record of helping companies scale to “household name” recognition status, Haddad said in a blog post. The company now has almost 400,000 vehicles available on the platform, with over 10 million users across both those listing their cars and those renting. Turo says its growth rate overall has been at around 2x over the past two years, and at 8x in its bourgeoning international markets, including the UK and Germany (where it took over Daimler’s car-sharing business alongside a strategic investment deal and officially launched last year).
