Turo raises $35 million

Turo , a car-sharing marketplace from San Francisco, raised a $35 million funding round, bringing its total funding to over $502 million. The list of investors isn’t available. Founded in 2009, Turo lets guests book any car they want, wherever they want it, from a community of trusted hosts.

Earlier this year, Turo announced its plans to go public after experiencing significant growth during the pandemic. Its userbase grew to 1.3 million “guests” and 85,000 active “hosts” (vehicle owners) in 2021, with net revenue of $330.5 million, however, it has yet to turn a profit. It incurred net losses of $97.1 million and $98.6 million in 2020 and 2019, respectively, and $129.3 million and $51.7 million in the nine months ended September 30, 2021, and 2020. Also, it expects its operating expenses to increase substantially in the foreseeable future as the company implements initiatives to grow the business, including acquiring new hosts and guests, growing partnerships and relationships with third parties such as insurance providers, vehicle manufacturers, and online travel search engines, developing new or enhanced offerings, hiring additional employees, expanding internationally, and expanding its infrastructure.

Turo uses Travelers as its liability insurance provider, implying that Travelers has taken the position of Liberty Mutual as of late 2021. We reached out to Turo for comment.

Bottom Line: One insurer’s trash is another insurer’s treasure? That’s what we’d like to know.