ZIRX, An On-Demand Valet And Car Services Startup, Adds Three Former Googlers To Its Team

Over the last year, three people have jumped ship from Google and landed at ZIRX, an on-demand valet and car services startup.

The recent new hires include Christopher Knape, Jo Hainsworth and Richard Magee. Knape, who spent five years leading analytics and business development at Google Play and YouTube, joined ZIRX in April as head of consumer products. Hainsworth, who worked in consumer marketing for Google Maps and Google Wallet, joined as ZIRX VP of Marketing in October. Magee, formerly of Google and YouTube, joined ZIRX in June as a software engineer.

ZIRX is all about transforming the car industry and removing the hassles (parking, smog checks, oil changes, etc.) that come with owning a car. Google, ZIRX CEO Sean Behr says, breeds and instills people who are interested in solving really big challenges.

“We want to solve really big problems,” Behr told me. “Having those people join us on this mission to transform what it means to have a car and to have parking is a great opportunity for me as a CEO.”

ZIRX was founded in 2014 and has raised over $36.4 million from Bessemer Venture Partners, Norwest Venture Partners and Trinity Ventures. In September, ZIRX secured BMW i Ventures as a strategic investor. ZIRX currently operates in San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Seattle, Washington D.C. and New York.