Fleet, a Co Wicklow-based start-up seeking to bring widespread disruption to the car rental market, turned to a new Irish equity crowdfunding provider to raise €275,000 to expand its team and bring software development in-house.
The start-up has developed a peer-to-peer software platform that allows motorists to earn extra money by hiring out their private cars when they are not using them.
It currently has about 2,850 monthly users and is seeking to be to car rental what Airbnb is to holiday accommodation.
The company, which recently won approval from Enterprise Ireland for matched funding as part of the State body’s high potential start-up (HPSU) programme was founded by businessman Maurice Sheehy late last year.
It went live earlier this year with a fundraising campaign on the Spark crowdfunding platform to secure investment through the sale of 20 per cent equity in the business.
Mr Sheehy told The Irish Times the company saw the crowdfunding campaign as both an opportunity to raise finance and to publicise the company.
“The most appealing thing about crowdfunding is that not only does it bring in new investors but that they are then essentially brand ambassadors for the company. Obviously, getting the word out about what we do at Fleet and how people can earn money from their cars is critical to our success, so I think the campaign will help with this,” he said.
He stressed that while some existing Irish websites such as Linked Finance, Grid Finance and Flender also enable investors to lend to early-stage businesses, Spark allows them to become actual shareholders in companies they believe in.
Fleet successfully raised 140% of the €275,000 they wished to raise totaling €384,550.
Source: www.irishtimes.com
