Zipcar, a Cambridge, Massachusetts, based hourly car rental service, announced it received $21 million in new venture capital funds, according to Bloomberg. In addition to the eight-figure deal, the company announced that it is adding AOL co-founder Steve Case and Staples chief financial officer John Mahoney to its board of directors.
Both announcements come as significant gains for the company as it keeps itself on course to become a publicly-held company in the near future. The funding came from two VC firms – Meritech Capital Partners which invested $20 million and Pinnacle Ventures LLC which contributed the remaining $1 million.
"Since my original investment in 2005, I've believed that car sharing will revolutionize urban transportation and redefine how we think about mobility," said Case in a statement.
The new funding does not mean life is any easier for the car-sharing service. As of March 2010, Zipcar was $30 million in debt, despite raising $59 million for operational costs. That includes approximately $29 million lost between 2007 and 2008 and another $4.5 million loss in 2009, according to Venture Beat.
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