Advised by Walter Billet for all legal concerns, Virtuo raised 80 millions euros in order to be the perfect alternative option to personal vehicles and to conquer up to 1 million users within Europe.
Virtuo – the car-on-demand service helping drive the shift away from car ownership across Europe – has raised €50 million ($60 million) in a Series C funding round led by AXA Venture Partners.
The round, which also saw participation from Bpifrance through their Large Venture funds, Alpha Intelligence Capital and H14 alongside existing investors Balderton Capital, Iris Capital and Raise Ventures, takes the total equity raised by Virtuo close to $100 million since its creation. In addition, Natixis and several members of the Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Epargne Group are granting Virtuo a pan-European asset-based financing of €30 million ($36 million), to support the development of its fleet, bringing this new round of financing to $96 million.
It also comes off the back of Virtuo being selected as part of the French Tech 120 program – a development scheme designed to support only the very best French scale ups with the potential to become global giants.
With this new funding round, Virtuo is seeking to invest in their technology and launch innovative new services that will position its car on-demand service as a key alternative to car ownership. Alongside the development of the app and the experience, the investment will allow them to accelerate their European expansion and the electrification of the fleet.
Shifting gears to sustainable mobility
Virtuo was founded in 2016 to revolutionize the car rental industry, an industry typically fraught with long queues, arduous paperwork and hidden fees. With its 100% digital app experience, Virtuo has not only emerged as the convenient and modern alternative to car rental for city escapes and mid-distance trips, but as an alternative to owning a car altogether. Virtuo is focused on understanding and developing an app-based experience that fulfils the needs of the new generation of drivers with a particular focus on urbanites from major European cities across its regions of France, the United Kingdom and Spain.
“Our ambition for Virtuo and our car on-demand service is to reinvent our relationship with cars. To provide all the benefits that cars can offer while using technology to remove the physical burden,” say Karim Kaddoura and Thibault Chassagne, Virtuo’s Co-founders. “We believe you should be able to access a car the same way you stream music or films: the car should appear on demand when you need it but disappear from sight when you don’t.”
This ambition was brought to life by Virtuo with the launch of their new delivery service, Virtuo Delivered, where you can get your Virtuo car delivered and collected from your chosen address. The service has been extensively tested and rolled out across London and recently launched in Paris and Madrid.
“Virtuo’s development is as amazing as its concept execution. This is obviously one of the new French tech leaders thanks to this new financing round”, adds Fabien Billet, Walter Billet Avocats’ partner who has been advising Virtuo and its management team since the beginning of their start-up.
Accelerated international expansion & electrification
This investment is also the opportunity for Virtuo to accelerate its presence in Europe: already present in France, the United Kingdom and Spain, the service is going to expand to Milan as soon as this month of May and launch in Germany by 2022 to cover about 10 markets by 2025. Virtuo will launch with both their consumer offering as well as their Virtuo for Business service, where businesses can enjoy exclusive corporate benefits. With ambitious plans for European expansion, Virtuo is also looking to accelerate the electrification of its fleet.
Virtuo is aiming to electrify 50% of its fleet by 2025, and to have a 100% electric fleet by 2030. In the meantime, Virtuo has been offsetting 100% of its carbon footprint since 1 January 2021, contributing to local clean energy and certified projects in Europe.
This funding round will allow Virtuo to focus on a new objective: conquer one million active customers across Europe by 2025.
Walter Billet Avocats advised Virtuo thanks to a team led by Fabien Billet, partner, and including Christophe Cussaguet and Miguel Goncalves.
Other law firms involved in this operation:
AXA Venture Partners was advised by Villechenon (Tristan Segonds, partner, and Eléanore Griffiths), while Iris Capital worked with Chammas & Marcheteau (Denis Marcheteau, partner, and Jérôme Chapron, counsel) and BPI Large Venture with Carlara Avocats (Constance Le Vert, partner).