Felix leads $20m round for Heetch

Via ID and Alven Capital both took part last time and have reinvested in the current round alongside Idinvest Partners.

Felix used its second vehicle, Felix Capital Fund II, which closed in July 2017 on its hard-cap of $150m.

Heetch is currently available in France, Belgium, Italy, Sweden and Morocco, but will use the fresh capital to launch in London in the coming months.

The startup attempts to compete with Uber by undercutting the price of a normal ride while paying their drivers the same. Heetch funds this by taking a lower commission for itself.

It originally launched as a ride-sharing application, meaning anyone could be a driver. However, this approach was found to be in breach of the law by a Paris tribunal in March 2017. The tribunal found that Teddy Pellerin and Mathieu Jacob were guilty of accessory to the illegal operation of taxis on 2 March 2017. The business and its founders were fined a total of €440,000. The prosecution had also called for Pellerin and Jacob to be banned from running a business for two years, although the court ultimately did not follow suit.

Since its relaunch, Heetch uses only professional drivers and operates a 24/7 service.

London has itself been at the centre of ongoing disputes surrounding the emergence of ride-sharing and private vehicle hiring startups in recent months.

In September, Uber was told by the city's transport body Transport for London (TFL) that it would not have its operating licence renewed in the city on the basis that it was not a fit and proper private car hire operator.

However, Uber has appealed the ban and London mayor Sadiq Khan said in November that the company would be able to operate freely until the appeals process had been exhausted. It is thought that this could be a number of years.

Previous funding
French VC Kima Ventures provided a round of early-stage funding to Heetch in 2015.

Following its relaunch in 2017, Felix led a €10m funding round for Heetch alongside Alven and Via to fund international expansion. 

Company
Established in 2013, Heetch was originally a ride-hailing and carpooling app specifically targeted at late-night rides, through which users could use their own car to transport other users. Following a court ruling that found this business model to be in breach of the law, Heetch relaunched as a more traditional ride-hailing application, employing only professional drivers. The company is headquartered in Paris and operates in a total of 10 cities in five countries.

People
Felix Capital – Frederic Court (managing partner).

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• Kima Ventures