SUMMARY
Bengaluru-based self-drive car rental startup Zoomcar also appoints country heads in Indonesia and Vietnam to help scale its business
The new market venture comes on the heels of its expansion into other Southeast Asia markets of the Philippines and Egypt. The startup has also appointed country heads in Indonesia and Vietnam to help scale their business.
The expansion comes just months after the news of Zoomcar planning for IPO listing in the US within the next year to tap into the markets beyond its home base of India
Launched in 2013, Zoomcar was India’s first mobility platform which now claims to have over 7,000 cars on its platform and a presence in nearly five countries. Headquartered in Bengaluru, the startup claims to employ over 300 people and has its operations in 50+cities across India.
With the onset of the pandemic, the startup was muddled amid controversies and faced a poor financial state in terms of unit economics. In the financial year that ended on March 31, 2020, Zoomcar’s expenses shot up by 35%, while income increased only by 10%.
With the pandemic situation now stabilising in most of the countries (amid further covid wave scare), the startup has now announced the launch of its operations in Indonesia and Vietnam. The new market venture comes on the heels of its expansion into other Southeast Asia markets of the Philippines and Egypt. The startup has also appointed country heads in Indonesia and Vietnam to help scale their business.
Leo Wibisono Arifin has been appointed as the vice president and country head and will look after the operations in Indonesia. Before joining Zoomcar, Arifin was a part of GOJEK, one of the largest tech companies in Indonesia, as the head of strategy. With the onboarding, Arifin will work on expanding Zoomcar’s mission of revolutionising the mobility sector in Indonesia, according to the company.
Furthermore, Kiet Pham will be joining as the vice president and country head for Vietnam. Before joining Zoomcar, he held senior management positions in companies like GOJEK, OYO and Nielsen.
Zoomcar aims to utilise Arifin and Pham’s experience and expertise in startup management to establish itself as the first-to-market car-sharing platform in Indonesia and Vietnam.
Commenting on the development, Zoomcar’s CEO & cofounder Greg Moran said, “Indonesia and Vietnam have low levels of vehicle ownership but large, upwardly mobile populations creating a perfect opportunity for us to leverage. We are thrilled to welcome Leo and Kiet as our new country heads and look forward to benefiting from their experience of scaling up aggressively and building synergistic partnerships contributing to our growth in Indonesia and Vietnam.”
The expansion comes just months after the news of Zoomcar planning for IPO listing in the US within the next year to tap into the markets beyond its home base of India. Moran had revealed then that his startup is considering listing in the US by establishing a new special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Although Moran didn’t reveal the size or the timeline of this planned listing, he did mention that his company is targeting to generate $100 Mn in revenue in this fiscal year through March and is targeting to double the valuation to $203 Mn.
