Limos.com Drives Off with $10 Million in Venture Capital
Limos.com LLC, an online marketplace for transportation services, has revved up its business engine with $10 million in funding from venture capital firm Austin Ventures.
The San Francisco startup is carving a niche in the $36 billion-a-year ground transportation industry in the United States – an industry that Limos.com says is dominated by local, independent operators whose offerings aren’t broadly available online. Less than 5 percent of ground transportation reservations are made on the Internet.
President and CEO T.J. Clark, who formerly worked at Hotwire.com, said Limos.com is aiming “to create an efficient, transparent marketplace that benefits both consumers and suppliers.” For people seeking limo services, the website provides price comparisons, discounted rates, consumer reviews and online bookings.
Among Limos.com’s corporate partners are OpenTable.com, Ticketmaster.com and David’s Bridal.
Mike Dodd, a partner at Austin Ventures, said: “After quietly building a profitable business and assembling the largest local supplier network in the world, Limos.com has by far the broadest footprint, best technology platform and overall growth potential we’ve seen among the players in the ground transportation industry. In our view, car service is the last major travel category to become web-enabled.”
Along with the cash infusion from Austin Ventures, Limos.com announced a new product for corporate travel. The startup said it soon will launch iPhone and Android apps.
The money from Austin Ventures comes on top of an earlier $5 million investment from Canal Partners.
Limos.com was founded in 2007 by former employees of discount travel website Hotwire.com.
Clark, the president and CEO, is an attorney by trade. At Hotwire.com, he was corporate counsel. Before co-founding Limos.com, Clark was vice president of business operations at Internet company IAC, whose properties include Chemistry.com, Citysearch, Match.com, The Daily Beast and Vimeo.
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