Shell Ventures joins Drover’s Series B Funding Round and stretches funds raised to £22.75m; Drover announces COO and CMO hires

Drover, the digital car retailer operating in the UK and France, today confirms it has secured £2.25m in additional investments and has brought Shell Ventures on as a new investor, taking total investment announced this year to £22.75m. Following consistent growth across its B2C platform in Q2-Q3 of this year across both markets, these funds will be used principally to accelerate Drover’s electric vehicle proposition, as well as to further invest in the talent and technology that will power Drover’s continued expansion. New End Associates, a London-based boutique advisory firm, has acted as financial adviser on the transaction. 

Speaking about the investment, Felix Leuschner, Founder & CEO of Drover says,

“Since founding in 2016, Drover has evolved and grown into a serious contender in the UK car retail market, and is quickly scaling in France. Our car-as-a-service proposition, with no large downpayment and one flat monthly fee including all the car’s bills, has proven remarkably resilient in 2020, with record revenues in Q2 and Q3. Partnering with Shell will only strengthen our position as the leading flexible ownership model, in the UK and beyond”. 

For Shell Ventures, the opportunity is clear. In the words of Iryna Gryhorenko, Investment Director Shell Ventures:

“We are delighted to be joining forces with Drover on its journey to become a European champion in car subscriptions and advance the electrification of our mobility landscape. With vehicle ownership and mobility access becoming much more nuanced, Drover plays into growing consumer demands for flexibility and a frictionless digital experience. Shell Ventures is excited to support their development, as we continue to invest in high-growth leaders at the forefront of the mobility transformation.”

Leadership team gears up for further growth with two senior automotive hires

As well as securing investment this year, Drover has also added significant strength to its senior leadership team. 

Bringing a wealth of asset management and vehicle hire experience to the business, Chris Moysen has joined Drover as Chief Operating Officer. Over the past 25 years, Chris has held a number of senior management positions in the fleet sector including roles at Hertz and Northgate. Speaking of Drover, Chris says: “Drover is in a unique and exciting position. I firmly believe the future of mobility is online and Drover’s ‘cars made easy’ proposition is primed to challenge a retail and ownership model which has remained virtually unchanged for decades.”

As of this month, Alex Rose has also joined Drover as Chief Marketing Officer. Following spells at BMW and then Google UK, for the past 7 years Alex has operated as Marketing Director or Trading Director at two other fast-growing automotive tech / marketplace platforms: Carwow and WhoCanFixMyCar.com. Alex will assume responsibility for all aspects of marketing, while using his trading experience to also manage vehicle mix, pricing and yield management. “Flexible subscriptions and all-in-one payments are increasingly seen as the smart, simple way to access products and services, and Drover’s rapid growth shows that this model is also ideally suited to car ownership, for a significant proportion of drivers. I am truly excited by the opportunity to change today’s fragmented car purchase and ownership process, by putting Drover’s convenient, accessible, stress-free proposition in the hands of ever more people, in the UK and beyond.”

Drover has also strengthened its asset management and supply chain team by appointing Paul Winter.  Paul has 30 years experience in the fleet and rental industry having served over 15 of those as the Fleet Director for Hertz UK, a position in which he bought and sold more than 25,000 vehicles per year.  Paul will be joining the business in November, as VP Fleet Procurement.

About Drover

Drover’s mission is to transform the way people buy and own cars in the UK and Europe through its fully digital ‘car-as-a-service’ model. For one flat monthly payment, Drover customers can get a car, tax, maintenance, breakdown cover and optional insurance, for a duration of one month to two years, without the need to take on debt. Instead of steep upfront payments, lengthy credit checks, and hours spent in dealerships, Drover has created a frictionless, fully digital transaction process: users simply create a profile, upload a photo of their driver’s licence, browse a selection of cars tailored to their location and budget, then personalise their subscription package based on their preferred term time, mileage and insurance options, and checkout with the same convenience people use when buying everything else online. Drover then delivers the car to their door in as little as 72 hours, customers pay monthly throughout their subscription, and Drover takes the car back at the end of the term. Drover was founded in 2016 and has been serially backed by some of the world’s top VCs including Cherry Ventures, Target Global, BP Ventures, RTP Global, Partech and Autotech Ventures. 

About Shell Ventures

Shell Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of Royal Dutch Shell plc (“Shell”). With major offices in Europe, the USA, India and China, Shell Ventures invests in innovative technology companies, business models and growth plays that have the potential to accelerate the mobility and power transformation. Continuing Shell’s tradition in venture capital since 1996, Shell Ventures focuses on investments within mobility solutions (including consumer solutions, e-mobility, connected mobility), renewable power systems, new fuels for transport, oil and gas technologies, and digital innovations. Shell Ventures co-invests with other corporate investors and venture capital funds and will invest in both early stage and late stage (growth capital) companies. For more information, visit www.shell.com/shell-ventures

Contact details
Alex Rose
Chief Marketing Officer, Drover
[email protected]
+447940 514 868