Spain-based car subscription service Revel has raised €115 ($123 million U.S.) — €15 million in equity and €100 million in debt — in collaboration with global investment company KKR and Santander Consumer Renting, amongst others.
Founded by Enrique de Mateo (LinkedIn profile) and Daniel Marcos (LinkedIn profile) in 2020, Madrid-headquartered Revel says that its medium-term goal is to position itself as one of the leaders in the European car subscription market.
De Mateo is the company’s CEO, while Marcos is its CPO.
De Mateo commented: “At Revel, we are very pleased with the closing of this round, which validates the work carried out so far by the entire team. This not only provides us with the capital that will allow us to continue growing and advancing but also brings leading global strategic partners into the project.”
Just a week ago, Revel revealed that it would increase its fleet by more than 120% this year and that half of its vehicles were currently hybrid, plug-in hybrid or battery-electric vehicles. It said that this move was a direct response to growing consumer demand for more environmentally friendly vehicles.
Electric car sales have been much slower to take off in Spain than in most Northern European countries. Partly this is a matter of affordability — GDP per capita is significantly lower in Spain than in Germany, Sweden or Ireland, for example. Moreover, the country’s charging network remains significantly underdeveloped, and, as the bulk of the population lives in apartments, most people are unable to charge a vehicle at home.
Subscription could offer Spanish consumers a more affordable (at least in the short term) way into electric motoring, as well as enabling them to easily ‘trade up’ to a new vehicle in a sector where technology is advancing rapidly — making residual values somewhat uncertain.