Cathay et al. in $38m series-B for ride-hailing app Heetch

According to press reports, the latest round values the company at $150m. 

Cathay deployed capital from its Cathay Innovation I fund, which closed on $320m in June 2017.

Existing shareholders Idinvest Partners, Alven Capital, Felix Capital, InnovAllianz and Via-ID also took part in the investment, which brings the total raised by the startup to exceed $70m.

The company plans to use the fresh financing to scale up its team and penetrate into new markets, especially across Africa – where it already has a presence in Morocco and Ivory Coast – by expanding in Algeria, Cameroon and Senegal by the end of the year.

Previous funding
French VC Kima Ventures, alongside startup accelerator Via-ID, provided a round of early-stage funding to Heetch in 2015.

In March 2017, a French tribunal found the company and its founders Teddy Pellerin and Mathieu Jacob guilty of enabling users to illegally operate taxi cabs and fined them a total of €440,000.

Subsequently, Heetch relaunched with a new focus on working with professional drivers and raised a $12m funding round in September 2017. The investment was led by Felix Capital alongside Alven and Via-ID.

Four months later, Felix led a $20m series-A funding round for the company by deploying capital from its second vehicle, Felix Capital Fund II, which closed in July 2017 on its hard-cap of $150m. Previous backers Via-ID and Alven both took part in the round alongside Idinvest and InnovAllianz.

Company
Established in 2013 and headquartered in Paris, Heetch is a ride-hailing and carpooling app specifically targeted at late-night rides that allows drivers to use their own car to transport users.

The company is headquartered in Paris and operates in a total of nine French cities, with an additional presence in Belgium, Morocco and Ivory Coast. According to a statement, the company handles more than 70,000 rides per week and works alongside 5,000 professional drivers.

People
Cathay Innovation – Jacky Abitbol (partner).
Heetch – Teddy Pellerin (co-founder, CEO).

Advisers
Equity – Arma Partners (corporate finance).

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• Topics
• Expansion
• France
• Consumer
• Cathay Capital
• Venture
• France
• Arma Partners
• IDInvest Partners (AGF Private Equity)
• Alven Capital