South African car subscription marketplace FlexClub has added a further US$5 million in equity and debt funding to the $US1.2 million it raised in 2019 to help it scale.
Formed in November 2018, FlexClub is a managed marketplace that simplifies investing in cars rented to people using gig platforms to earn a living. Essentially, it allows users to purchase vehicles which are then matched with Uber drivers who pay a weekly rental charge to the investor.
In 2019, the marketplace announced a partnership with Uber, offering commercial car subscriptions to the Uber community of drivers in South Africa and Mexico.
FlexClub raised a US$1.2 million seed round in 2019, and it has now added to that with US$5 million in a round led by Kindred Ventures, early backers of global technology businesses such as Uber, Postmates, Virgin Hyperloop and Coinbase. It also features prominent angel investors such as Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress; Federico Ranero, COO of KAVAK; Tariq Zaid, formerly of Shopify and Getaround; and Ron Pragides, formerly of Twitter and Salesforce.
“With seasoned and highly respected VC investors like Kindred Ventures, CRE Venture Capital and Endeavor getting behind our mission, we’re well placed to usher in the future of how people get cars in markets like Mexico and South Africa” said FlexClub co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Tinashe Ruzane.
According to Ruzane, the expected transformation of how people acquire their vehicles is not unlike the evolution that happened over the past decade in other consumer sectors such as music retail.
