Car rental community Getaround is announcing a $3.4 million seed round today, with participation from Netflix founder Marc Randolph, Powerset founder Barney Pell, WordPress’ Matt Mullenweg, Redpoint Ventures, General Catalyst, Michael Arrington‘s Crunchfund and others.
Co-founder Sam Zaid tells me that investor momentum for Getaround, which is in the same peer to peer carsharing space as Relay Rides, picked up “like gangbusters” after its debut and eventual win at TechCrunch Disrupt New York. The seed round ended up being massively exaggerated, raising almost 3x over initial intent.
Zaid tells me that since its launch in May, the service has brought on “tens of thousands” of users and that car owner signups have exceeded 5,000 nationwide. According to Zaid, top Getaround car owners are now grossing between $6,000 to $10,000 a year, and some are even covering their car payments through renting out their cars. The average revenue per car in the Bay Area is $340 a month.
The company also recently streamlined their iPhone app, which notably allows renters to both reserve and access their Getaround cars.
Getaround is currently available in the South Bay, East Bay and San Francisco, and Zaid tells me he is eyeing Seattle and Portland as contenders for possible expansion. The free service monetizes by taking a 40% transaction fee, which includes roadside assistance, insurance and support.
Zaid says that the primary advantage of launching Getaround at TechCrunch Disrupt New York was that the conference validated both the startup and the market, “It’s really brought a lot of credibility to both Getaround and the peer to peer car sharing market as a whole. Because it’s a very new market, that’s of tremendous value.”
Note: As noted above, TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington is investing in Getaround via Crunchfund. You can read more about his investment policy here
.