Moovby Founder and CEO Nik Muhammad Amin (R) with Indonesia Country Head Joni Ali
Moovby, a peer-to-peer car-sharing marketplace in Malaysia, has secured US$500,000 in a new round of financing from unnamed angel investors and strategic partners.
This brings the Kuala Lumpur-headquartered startup’s total investment raised to date to US$660,000.
The newly-raised capital will be used for expansion in existing markets in Southeast Asia, namely Malaysia and Indonesia.
“We are excited to continue driving growth in existing markets, while also bringing Moovby to more communities across Malaysia, Indonesia and soon in other countries in Southeast Asia,” said Moovby Founder and CEO Nik Muhammad Amin. “This capital accelerates our ability to build upon partnerships and increase marketing efforts, further strengthening our ability to enable as many people as possible to share their cars.”
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Moovby was started in 2017 with initial grants and funding worth US$150,000 from Cradle and TERAJU to fund operations as well as app and platform development.
The platform allows people to share their cars with other people nearby at an affordable price. Being a host and listing your car on Moovby means your car can help you earn income when you receive requests to be reserved, booked and rented out to Moovby’s trusted community of users.
From a Perodua Axia to a Rolls Royce Ghost, the users can rent a car for as low as RM6 (US$1.46) an hour, with Moovby hosts making an average of RM1,500 (US364) each month.
Most recently, Moovby received US$74,000 in growth funding from Accelerating Asia, a Singapore-based early-stage VC firm and startup accelerator.
Indonesia operations
The new funding round comes nearly six months after its launch in Indonesia, where it has more than 3,000 vehicles across Jakarta, Bandung, Bali.
Indonesia, being the largest Southeast Asian economy by virtue of having a significant market size of over RM2 billion (US$485.4 million) in total rental revenue with a population of almost 300 million, contributes to a sizable chunk of Moovby’s user base, current growth, and future plans.
Moovby is one of Traveloka’s car suppliers in Indonesia and recently in Malaysia with plans of expansion throughout Southeast Asia in the pipeline. Through this partnership, Moovby has received thousands of booking monthly from Traveloka alone.
Within just six months, Moovby has more than 1,500 cars hosted with Traveloka to support their bookings across Jakarta, Bandung, Bali, Surabaya, and other parts of Indonesia.
Opportunity in Singapore and Thailand
According to CEO Amin, Moovby is not only looking at Singapore as a new market but eyeing Singapore as its new headquarters.
“Singaporeans are more than willing to share their private cars. Singapore market is huge regardless of the size of the country. As per a Statista report, it is a US$159 million market,” he added.
“We are also looking to conquer more than 60 per cent of the market share in Thailand for car rental by 2023, where we are looking to explore other verticals such as yacht, helicopter and caravan sharing,” he added.
To serve thie purpose, the company is raising US$3-5 million, Nik disclosed.
Moovby’s direct competitors in Southeast Asia are Drivelah, Trevo, and Drivemate.
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Image Credit: Moovby
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