Travelcar start-up founded by Tunisian Ahmed Mhiri acquired by PSA Group

The French car manufacturer PSA has decided to buy the startup Travelcar, founded in 2012 by Tunisian Ahmed Mhiri. The world leader in automotive solutions around airports and train stations, the startup closed in 2017 a fourth round of financing of €15 million with the same group and the French insurance company, MAIF.

Two years after acquiring a stake in TravelCar, the PSA Group, a manufacturer of the Citroën, DS Automobiles, Peugeot, Vauxhall and Opel car brands, has decided to strengthen its strategy in new mobility solutions through the acquisition of Travelcar. During this period, the Group, which is a 22% shareholder in the startup alongside MAIF, has seen Travelcar’s ability to grow and has therefore invested more. 

The startup founded by Tunisian Ahmed Mhiri, allows departing travellers to rent their vehicles during their stay, for the benefit of other individuals in the same airports.

A collaborative economy solution that revolutionizes car-sharing by avoiding parking costs for car owners and offering vacationers lower car rental prices than traditional rental companies.

Travelcar is now present in 60 countries and has more than one million users and more than 5,000 partners. Recently, Travelcar has introduced a new offer: vehicles for rent no longer come only from private individuals but also from professionals such as dealerships or large car rental chains. A recent trend that represents 90% of all rentals.

The acquisition of Travelcar by the PSA Group will enable the startup to accelerate the distribution and optimisation of its services.

For Brigitte Courtehoux, the PSA Group’s Director of Mobility and Connectivity Services, this acquisition underlines the Group’s commitment “to develop an efficient and sustainable ecosystem of new mobility services”.

Ahmed Mhiri expressed his satisfaction saying: “We are delighted and proud to be able to write this new chapter in the company’s life with the PSA Group. We are very excited to work on all the innovative solutions that such integration promises our users.

TravelCar, which has more than 200 branches and 300,000 users in 10 European countries, completed in March 2017 a fundraising campaign for a total amount of 15 million euros from the PSA Group and the MAIF Assurance mutuelle.

TunisianMonitorOnline

Related posts