Zipcar has been around for over 10 years but it has the feel of a startup company. The car-sharing company is on a mission to redefine the way people think about transportation. With technology and a member-driven user experience, Zipcar has taken the simple idea of car sharing into new heights. The concept will mean less traffic and less pollution in our cities.
I better understood Zipcar’s concept when hearing Robin Chase, Founder and former CEO of Zipcar talk at the BRITE 2010 Conference at Columbia Business School. She talked about new business models based on sharing like CouchSurfing and Chatroulette. She elaborated on using other people’s excess capacity and creating a platform that end users can make use of it.
In April 2011, The New York Times reported “with an initial public offering on the Nasdaq, Zipcar, Inc. raised more than $174 million. The company has yet to make a profit, but investors are betting its lead over competitors will pay off.”
Zipcar is currently in 14 cities across the US and is also available at colleges and universities through North America.
What do you think about Zipcar? Have you used it?