alarm:clock

eCommerce - Wednesday, July 13, 2005

ZipCar - Profile

HQ: Cambridge, MA

Founded: 2000

Management: Scott Griffith is President & CEO. Neither he nor the rest of the team bring terribly impressive credentials to the table.

Investors: In July 2005, the company raised $10M from Benchmark Capital. Earlier it had raised about $10.5M in three angel rounds, from about 45 individual investors.

Business Model: Consumers who become ZipCar members can reserve vehicles at ZipCar.com and rent them by the hour, starting at $8.50 per hour. Zipcar counts about 40,000 customers. Many pay an annual membership fee of $50 or agree to spend at least $50 a month for lower rates. Zipcar claims to be profitable with revenues of $15M. Zipcar currently operates in Boston, New York, and Washington, DC. Traditional car-rental companies generally do business at centralized locations, but Zipcar scatters its vehicles across urban areas. In Greater Boston, it has about 110 locations where two or three vehicles are typically parked. Users tend to be urbanites who generally do not need a car to commute. ZipCar aims to be in 25 major metropolitan markets by 2009. ZipCar will use its funding to roll-out in San Francisco, Seattle, and Portland, OR.

An Electric ZipSUV On The Road

Competitors: Flexcar, CityCar Share (a non-profit).

Dirt: Zipcar's revenues are suprisingly substantial. However, it is now entering markets such as San Francisco where it will face entrenched competitors. This concept has done well in Europe, howevever, there are fewer urban areas on the US where people live without cars.