{"id":36683,"date":"2023-10-20T14:45:36","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:45:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/how-this-sydney-startup-secured-a-2-5-million-investment-from-a-corporate-giant-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T14:45:36","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:45:36","slug":"how-this-sydney-startup-secured-a-2-5-million-investment-from-a-corporate-giant-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/how-this-sydney-startup-secured-a-2-5-million-investment-from-a-corporate-giant-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"How this Sydney startup secured a $2.5 million investment from a corporate giant – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Car<\/div>\n

When the co-founder of a peer-to-peer car sharing platform was first approached by petrol giant Caltex, he was a little concerned.<\/p>\n

Car Next Door co-founder Will Davies founded the startup nearly five years ago and was worried about giving up some of the company to a big corporate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve put my blood sweat and tears into Car Next Door now for close to five\u00a0years and the last thing I would want is for any corporate or big entity to have any undue influence over what we\u2019re doing and how we\u2019re going,\u201d Davies tells StartupSmart<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But after meeting the Caltex Australia team\u00a0at a Fishburners event, Davies says he was pleasantly surprised.<\/p>\n

After a series of discussions, Caltex Australia has now invested $2.5 million in the Sydney-based startup in exchange for a 20% stake in the business.<\/p>\n

Compared to the difficult experience of many peers going through big corporate investment, Davies says Caltex Australia made the process personal and efficient.<\/p>\n

He says he only dealt with about five people from initial contact through to due diligence to having the transaction documents organised.<\/p>\n

\u201cCaltex has invested in us because they like what we\u2019re doing and they like our vision,\u201d Davies says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t want to be involved on a day-to-day manner and they don\u2019t want us to change the way we do things.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the Car Next Door\u2019s team now numbering more than 20, Davies runs quarterly activities to keep each member in the driving seat of the company\u2019s strategic direction.<\/p>\n

This includes a brainstorming event to spark ground-up ideas from frontline staff.
\u201cI\u2019m a really big believer in people continually stretching themselves and continually learning,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

So every quarter each employee is expected to have completed \u2013 what they call \u2013 a three-two-one.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery team member is required to meet with three people who can help them in some way, read two books and go to one event,\u201d Davies says.<\/p>\n

Though it may seem ironic that an environmentally conscious startup would link with a fuel conglomerate, Davies says that it actually makes a lot of sense because companies like Caltex are looking for ways to diversify away from the fuel economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my opinion, the writing is on the wall that petrol is going to die down overtime,\u201d Davies says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand that Caltex is innovating and getting into mobility.\u201d<\/p>\n

By driving down the number of people that own cars, Davies hopes more people will turn to greener alternatives like public transport, cycling and walking.<\/p>\n

\u201cA big reason we set up Car Next Door is the more people that car-share, the less people that own a car,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Car Next Door has grown to a community of 13,000 borrowers across Sydney and Melbourne.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started off just in Bondi with 30 cars and 600 people borrowing them,\u201d Davies says.<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s biggest challenge now is growing the number of car owners willing to share their cars.<\/p>\n

Aiming to grow their platform to 1200 cars by the start of next year, Davies and his team are working to build up incentives for owners that share.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re guaranteeing owners that they\u2019ll earn an extra $2000 per year,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

They are also looking to expand into new markets, with a launch in Newcastle in the next few weeks and future plans to break into Canberra, Geelong, Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane.<\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on Facebook<\/strong><\/a>, Twitter<\/strong><\/a>, LinkedIn<\/strong><\/a> and SoundCloud<\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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