As reported by TechCrunch in February, valet service Luxe has now confirmed that it has raised $50 million in Series B funding from car rental company Hertz. Redpoint Ventures and Venrock will also be participating in the round.
Luxe also announced that Hertz Global Holdings CEO John Tague will be joining Luxe’s board.
“Our investment will support Luxe’s ability to scale its successful service to other major urban centers, while offering our customers enhanced convenience and value with regard to their urban parking needs,” Tague said today in a canned statement. “Building on an expanded Luxe footprint and capability, we will partner together to develop new innovative and integrated services that will enhance the relevancy of our core products in urban markets.”
Luxe pays to have valets stationed throughout major cities, ready to park a car on a moment’s notice, so this strategic investment will provide the on-demand company with the capital needed to run this high-cost business.
It’s also likely that car rental giant Hertz sees opportunity in urban parking solutions, which it can then, in turn, offer its customers as well. Travelers, after all, may benefit from a service like Luxe when they are in an unfamiliar city and not sure where to park their ride (and may actually be more likely to even rent a car instead of taking Uber, Lyft or public transport when they know parking won’t be an issue).
Luxe says it plans to use the capital to invest in valet, operations, product and engineering teams.The company says it will also introduce “new services that complement its current parking and car services.”
Tim Young, general partner at Eniac Ventures and investor in Luxe says that “this additional capital and partnership with Hertz will pave the way to further expansion and product evolution, allowing CEO Curtis Lee and his team to fix the parking in many U.S. cities.”
Luxe is currently offered in six major cities: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Austin, Chicago and New York.
Previously, Luxe raised at least $25 million in capital from Venrock, Foundation Capital, Google Ventures and others.