Why We Invested: Kyte
At Anthemis, we get excited whenever we meet companies developing services and technologies to challenge traditional business models, particularly when they can leverage data and technology to design superior, seamless user experiences for today’s consumers.
Kyte is a perfect example: the company is reframing the limitations of the transportation industry, allowing consumers to bypass the inconveniences of car ownership or leasing (and the relative inflexibility of traditional car rental) with an efficient and consumer-centric model of on-demand car delivery. Ride-sharing may have influenced our mobility decisions for short trips, but options for longer trips remain largely inconsistent, inconvenient, and certainly lacking in customer delight.
We’re excited to join Kyte’s Series B round, and we believe there remains significant upside for the company in a world of increasingly atomized (and personalized) mobility solutions.
Like many professionals, my connection to Kyte’s business model has some painful precedents. I missed a flight from San Francisco to Los Angeles for an important client meeting some years ago. The taxi order I placed hours in advance never produced a taxi, and a last-minute sprint in the rain to try hailing one also ended in failure.
Struggling with these unsatisfactory transportation options was the straw that broke the camel’s back, resulting in our family becoming a two-car household.
Seven years later, the arrival of ride-sharing in the Bay Area finally allowed us to reduce our household spend and carbon footprint and return to our one-car roots. (Two licensed teenagers definitely challenged that conviction, but we’ll get to that later.)
Kyte is well-positioned to address trips that are longer than would be cost-effective via ride-share. There’s also enormous potential for Kyte in unlocking the freedom to go places for the masses, with tailored mobility options for each user, whether they need wheels for a weekend, a few weeks, or for months at a time.
Our investment thesis has always centered on backing founders who embody non-zero sum mindsets and are committed to making a net positive impact on the world. Kyte is led by operational and customer experience-obsessed founders Nikolaus Volk and Ludwig Schoenack, who’ve assembled a very talented team to help them aggressively grow the company’s electric vehicle fleet, supporting a long-term goal of making sustainable mobility more accessible for all.
While Kyte’s initial wedge is the existing rental car market, we’re excited by the team’s opportunity — and their ability — to create a much larger category, spanning the entire transportation sector by building the leading platform to provide access to electrified, shared, and autonomous fleets to meet any use case.
Whether it’s a business trip, an extended “work-from-anywhere” adventure, a car in the shop or (in my case) soon-to-be college-bound kids monopolizing the family car, Kyte’s convenience, quality and customer-centric options are the future of sustainable mobility. Check out Kyte’s website to see if the service is available in your area today!
