New Delhi: Car and bicycle rental firm Zoomcar today said it has raised USD 40 million (about Rs 256 crore) in fresh funding, led by Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) with participation from existing investors.

Of the total amount, M&M is pumping in up to Rs 176 crore in Zoomcar India and Zoomcar Inc, its US incorporated holding parent company. "We will use this series C funding primarily for accelerating our marketplace supply growth, and strengthening our technology as well as expanding into additional mobility categories across India," Zoomcar co-founder and CEO Greg Moran told PTI.

He added that the funds will also be directed towards bringing more electric vehicles (EVs) onto its platform. Zoomcar had raised USD 21 million in two tranches between October 2014 and July 2015 from Sequoia Capital and Empire Angels. Later, it received USD 24 million from Ford Smart Mobility LLC.

According to a regulatory filing by M&M, Mahindra Group will invest up to Rs 176 crore for about 16 per cent stake in Zoomcar Inc. For the fiscal year 2017, Zoomcar India had recorded a revenue of Rs 121 crore, the filing said.

Mahindra said the company has been keen to invest in the shared mobility space as a part of its strategy to participate in sustainable mobility solutions. "We are confident that this partnership with Zoomcar will help further our vision to transform mobility in the country, thereby creating a more connected ecosystem," M&M Managing Director Pawan Goenka said.

In November last year, Mahindra and Zoomcar had announced a partnership to introduce EVs in the shared mobility space. Zoomcar has recently introduced Mahindra e20Plus EVs across Mysore and Bengaluru.

"We have EVs in Mysuru and Hyderabad and we will extend these to 20 Indian cities in the coming months. We expect to add over 500 Mahindra EVs in the first half of 2018," Moran said. He added that Zoom Car India operates a fleet of about 3,000 vehicles in 27 cities across India and this will be ramped up to 15,000 by December 2018.

In October last year, Zoomcar launched 'PEDL', its bicycle-sharing service which is now being offered across 10 cities with a fleet of more than 3,000 cycles. It currently completes nearly 15,000 rides per day. PEDL service will be extended to across more than 75 cities by year-end. (PTI)