Irish app startup Fleet has raised nearly €287,000 on Spark Crowdfunding for its peer-to-peer car rental platform. The startup was founded in Wicklow in 2016 by Maurice Sheehy (pictured), a nephew of former AIB CEO Eugene Sheehy.

Sheehy describes his venture as an Airbnb for cars. Users can add their cars to the Fleet app, set their rental price and make them available to other users at a daily rate. Fleet takes a service fee from users.

Cars currently available through Fleet’s platform typically come with a daily rental charge of between €30 and €50.

Sheehy has partnered with Axa Insurance for his car-sharing startup. Axa provides fully comprehensive insurance for each Fleet rental and provides 24-hour breakdown assistance.

The cover supersedes any existing policy on the vehicle for the duration of a rental, while any claims are handled directly by Axa Insurance.

In Association with

Spark Crowdfunding is an equity crowdfunding platform based in Dublin that launched in the Irish market in August 2018.

Fleet’s crowdfunding campaign launched last month and sought to raise €275,000 for 20% equity in the firm. Enterprise Ireland is also expected to provide €150,000 to the startup once the crowdfunding campaign ends.

The campaign ends for Fleet on September 15 and the Spark Crowdfunding website currently shows the amount raised by Sheehy as €287,000.

“We couldn’t be more happy with how our crowdfund has gone. Over 80 investors have now backed us,” said Sheehy.

Enterprise Ireland invested €100,000 into Fleet’s operating company, Dash Apps Limited, in January 2018. Family members have also invested €210,000 into the business, while founder Sheehy invested €250,000.

According to Sheehy, more than 15,000 people have created accounts on the Fleet service to date. “We’re seeing a high proportion of repeat customers throughout the platform. Our users are happy, and over 65% make a second transaction,” he added.