Culver City-Based Envoy Gets $11M to Make Electric Cars an Apartment Perk

Francesca Billington

Francesca Billington is a freelance reporter. Prior to that, she was a general assignment reporter for dot.LA and has also reported for KCRW, the Santa Monica Daily Press and local publications in New Jersey. She graduated from Princeton in 2019 with a degree in anthropology.

Culver City-Based Envoy Gets $11M to Make Electric Cars an Apartment Perk

The transportation tech company Envoy, which rents out electric cars to apartment buildings and offices, closed an $11 million Series A round on Thursday.

The boost represents just a fraction of a $81 million financing bundle that includes debt financing from Macquarie Specialized and asset finance to grow its fleet of Teslas and Chevy Bolts across the country.

The Culver City-based startup was founded in 2017 by two ex-real estate investors who saw a space to introduce mobility as new apartment amenity.


"You have a pool, you have a gym, now you have a car you can access," said co-founder and executive chairman Ori Sagie. His previous startups include an instant messaging platform he built in Israel, which sold to the online learning platform Smart Online. "Mobility will become an amenity in every building, like a laundry room."

Sagie said the startup supplies 27 of the top 50 real estate companies with cars and charging stations exclusively reserved for their residents.

Envoy also works with developers looking to downsize parking structures, said co-founder and CEO Aric Ohana, who previously worked in property tech. He said that every shared vehicle takes about 10 cars off the road.

In 2016, he and Sagie were working on a student housing development in Arlington, Texas when they noticed a disconnect between apartment amenities tenants said they wanted and the ones developers were building.

Their model lets apartment tenants or employees at work access their community car through an app that charges them a fee of 15 to 45 cents per minute. Envoy charges real estate companies an initial fee for each vehicle. Typically, it deploys one car for every 100 apartment units.

Unlike on-demand rental companies like Zipcar, Envoy's model doesn't let just anyone pick up a set of keys and borrow a car for the day.

Their fleet of purchased cars currently stands at 200, but the company has hopes of reaching 1,000 in 12 to 14 months, Ohana said.

Envoy has cars deployed in 10 states including L.A., Seattle, D.C. and Las Vegas. And their clients include drivers of delivery services to families that need transportation to buy groceries, "all the way to people who go to the Hamptons for the weekend," said Sagie.

As the pandemic keeps many working from home, Ohana says he's noticed more families that previously owned two cars are downsizing. Some don't need a car at all.

"There's no question that personal car ownership will continue for a long time, but we are helping communities get rid of cars. It helps people not renew a lease on a car or not buy a new car," he said. "Uber and Lyft obviously did a great job previously, showing us we might not need to own a car. But the issue is, it wasn't as affordable."

The startup has seen a surge in usage by clients since April. And 73% of users said they hadn't tried driving electric before Envoy, according to an internal company survey published in April.

With the raise, Sagie said the company will look to expand its fleet in more cities. That also means offering the service to people without affordable access to transportation.

They've already distributed 30 electric cars in 15 disadvantaged communities across Sacramento with a $1 million grant from the California Energy Commission in 2018. With a second grant from the Los Angeles Clean Incubator, they deployed two Nissan Leafs in both San Pedro and Pacoima, where cars are charged by solar panels.

Tenants in those areas pay the lowest rate per minute, Sagie said.

Thursday's round was led by Shell Ventures and Building Ventures and backed by DENSO, Goodyear Ventures, GroundBreak Ventures and the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator Impact Fund.

**This story has been updated to reflect that Envoy's co-founders were former real estate investors, not agents.

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LA Tech ‘Moves’: LeaseLock, Visgenx, PlayVS and Pressed Juicery Gains New CEOs

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

LA Tech ‘Moves’: LeaseLock, Visgenx, PlayVS and Pressed Juicery Gains New CEOs
LA Tech ‘Moves’:

“Moves,” our roundup of job changes in L.A. tech, is presented by Interchange.LA, dot.LA's recruiting and career platform connecting Southern California's most exciting companies with top tech talent. Create a free Interchange.LA profile here—and if you're looking for ways to supercharge your recruiting efforts, find out more about Interchange.LA's white-glove recruiting service by emailing Sharmineh O’Farrill Lewis (sharmineh@dot.la). Please send job changes and personnel moves to moves@dot.la.

***

LeaseLock, a lease insurance and financial technology provider for the rental housing industry named Janine Steiner Jovanovic as chief executive officer. Prior to this role, Steiner Jovanovic served as the former EVP of Asset Optimization at RealPage.

Esports platform PlayVS hired EverFi co-founder and seasoned business leader Jon Chapman as the company’s chief executive officer.

Biotechnology company Visgenx appointed William Pedranti, J.D. as chief executive officer. Before joining, Mr. Pedranti was a partner with PENG Life Science Ventures.

Pressed Juicery, the leading cold-pressed juice and functional wellness brand welcomed Justin Nedelman as chief executive officer. His prior roles include chief real estate officer of FAT Brands Inc. and co-founder of Eureka! Restaurant Group.

Michael G. Vicari joined liquid biopsy company Nucleix as chief commercial officer. Vicari served as senior vice president of Sales at GRAIL, Inc.

Full-service performance marketing agency Allied Global Marketing promoted Erin Corbett to executive vice president of global partnership and marketing. Prior to joining Allied, Corbett's experience included senior marketing roles at Disney, Warner Bros. Studios, Harrah's Entertainment and Imagi Animation Studios.

Nuvve, a vehicle-to-grid technology company tapped student transportation and automotive sales and marketing executive David Bercik to lead the K-12 student transportation division.

This Week in ‘Raises’: Curri Scoops Up $42M, Mosaic Scores $26M

Decerry Donato

Decerry Donato is a reporter at dot.LA. Prior to that, she was an editorial fellow at the company. Decerry received her bachelor's degree in literary journalism from the University of California, Irvine. She continues to write stories to inform the community about issues or events that take place in the L.A. area. On the weekends, she can be found hiking in the Angeles National forest or sifting through racks at your local thrift store.

Raises
Image by Joshua Letona

A local logistics platform raised fresh funding to put toward product development, infrastructure and sales and marketing initiatives, while a San Diego-based fintech company closed its Series C funding round to expand its investment in AI which will empower high-growth SMB and mid-market finance leaders.

***

Venture Capital

Curri, a Ventura-based logistics platform, raised a $42 million Series B funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners.

San Diego-based financial platform Mosaic raised a $26 million Series C funding round led by OMERS Ventures.

AHARA, a Los Angeles-based startup focused on providing personalized nutrition suggestions, raised a $10.25 million seed funding round led by Greycroft.

Per an SEC filing, San Diego-based developer of peptide therapeutics designed to assist in the treatment of autoimmune diseases and disorders selectIon raised $5 million in funding.

Miscellaneous

Los Angeles-based Sensydia, a company working on non-invasive cardiac diagnostics, said this morning that it has received $3 million in a NIH grant.

Raises is dot.LA’s weekly feature highlighting venture capital funding news across Southern California’s tech and startup ecosystem. Please send fundraising news to Decerry Donato (decerrydonato@dot.la).

Why a Downturn in Esports Investments Isn’t Something To Fear

Samson Amore

Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.

Why a Downturn in Esports Investments Isn’t Something To Fear
Samson Amore

Last year, global venture capital investment in esports dropped by more than 40%. Investors have been rapidly selling off teams and franchises, and the industry has witnessed a consistent decline in ad spend. This has prompted many critics to coin the term “esports winter,” referring to a fall-off in the industry, an indication that VCs believe their investments didn’t achieve success as expected.

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