Daimler Leads Financing Round in Carsharing Service Turo

Daimler AG (DAI.XE) on Wednesday said that it has invested in the U.S. peer-to-peer carsharing service Turo Inc., part of its expansion in the mobility services sector.

Daimler Mobility Services and South Korea's SK Holdings co-led the financing round, which raised $92 million for Turo. Liberty Mutual, Turo's insurance partner, Founders Circle Capital and all of Turo's existing investors also participated in the round.

Turo, founded in Boston in 2009, is a carsharing platform that allows users to rent vehicles from private car owners through its app or website. It has over 4 million customers and more than 170,000 vehicles available, according to the company.

Daimler already has a presence in the carsharing and mobility services space through car2go, mytaxi, and moovel. It launched its own carsharing platform, Croove, in Germany in 2016. Following the investment in Turo, carsharing activities under the Croove brand will be combined with Turo, giving Turo the basis to enter the German market.

"We have been meeting this demand already with our mobility services brands - car2go, mytaxi and moovel - for our 15 million customers. The investment in Turo further expands our strong position in the mobility services sphere," said Joerg Lamparter, head of mobility services at Daimler Financial Services.

Daimler didn't provide information on the size of its own investment in Turo.

Write to Sonia Amaral Rohter at sonia.amaralrohter@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 06, 2017 10:48 ET (14:48 GMT)